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Hard  Times: 


Wherefore  and  How  Long  ? 


STUDIES  OF  THE  FINANCIAL  SITUATION 


By  the  Rev.  J.  C.  Elliott. 


Illustrations  by  J.  S.  Benner. 


AKRON,  OHIO. 
The  Akron  Printing  and  Publishing  Co. 

1894. 


Copj'right.  1894,  by  J.  C.  ELLIOTT. 


Li^^  ( 


el.-      - 

CONTENTS. 

Artie  1 

Wlierefore. 

u 

II.        -      - 

Uses  of  Money. 

ik 

III.      -      - 

Change  of  Unit. 

It 

IV.       - 

Effect  on  Property. 

it 

V. 

Exchange. 

a 

VL       - 

-      -      Rise  of  Gold. 

ii 

\\\.     - 

-      -      StabiUty  of  Silver. 

n 

vin.  -    - 

-      Growth  of  Wealth. 

11 

IZ.       - 

This  Century. 

n 

X. 

Supply  of  Gold. 

ti 

ZI.       - 

Supply  of  Silver. 

n 

ZII.     - 

Mines  and  Prosperity. 

n 

ziri.  - 

-      -      Protits  of  Mining. 

il 

ZIV.  - 

Effect  on  Character. 

tfc 

zv.    - 

Effect  on  Nation. 

11 

ZVI.  - 

International  Agreetnent. 

i  t 

ZVII. 

Greater  Security. 

n    ■ 

zvrii.    - 

National  Banks. 

t  i 

ZIZ.  - 

How  Long  ? 

ii 

zz.    - 

Arguments  for  a  Gold  Basis 

389225 


■  c   c     eft     (   < 


PREFACE. 


This  book  is  the  result  of  studies  undertaken 
solely  for  the  pvirpose  of  discovering,  if  possible,  the  \ 
mysterious  cause  of  these  depressed  times.  I  have 
no  personal  interest  in  the  qviestion.  and,  so  far  as  I 
know,  I  am  free  from  party  bias  of  any  kind.  The 
facts  were  gathered  from  the  best  available  sources, 
and  w^ill  be  found  sufficiently  accurate  by  any  who 
may  have  the  means  of  verifying  them. 

If  the  reader  does  not  always  find  the  reasoning 
clear  and  forcible,  3'et,  if  he  has  a  logical  mind,  and 
will  read  this  book  through,  he  will  be  led  irresist- 
ibly, as  I  have  been,  to  the  belief  that  our  trouble  is 
monetary,  and  that  there  should  be  a  change  in  our 
financial  policy. 

J.  C.  Elliott, 

Pastor  of  the  Central  Presbyterian  Church,  Akron,  Ohio. 


WHEREFORE. 

ARTICLE    I. 

The  query  "Why  tliese  hard  times?"  is  in  ever3^ 
thoughtful  mind.  That  there  is  a  radical  wrong 
somewhere  that  should  be  righted,  all  admit ;  but 
there  is  no  conception  of  what  that  wrong  is,  and, 
therefore,  there  is  no  agreement  as  to  the  reined}-. 

The  cause  of  these  depressed  times,  if  we  are 
not  wanting  in  intelligence.  certainU'  can  be  found, 
and  a  remedy-  can  be  applied,  unless  we  are  wanting 
in  moral  stamina.  If  there  is  this  wide-spread  suf- 
fering and  we  are  not  able  either  to  find  the  cause  or 
to  applj' the  remedy,  then  it  must  be  confessed  wath 
shame  that  -we  have  neither  the  intelligence  nor  the 
moral  character  to  fit  us  for  self-government,  and  our 
experiment  of  a  government  "by  the  people  ;  for  the 
people  "  is  a  failure.  We  are  degenerate  sons  unable 
to  perpetuate  the  blessings  bought  for  us  by  the 
sacrifice  and  blood  of  our  fathers. 

The  answer  to  this  question  does  not  interest  us 
alone  ;  this  in  common  with  every  other  principle 
touching  human  rights  and  public  welfare  that  has 
been  discussed  and  settled  in  this  republic,  widens 
in  its  results,  and  affects  the  destiny  of  the  civilized 
world.  As  patriots,  we  should  come  to  this  consid- 
eration unprejudiced,  and  this  should  also  be 
studied  with  a  broad  Christian  spirit,  recognizing 
our  obligations  to  all  men. 

These  hard  times  are  not  caused  by  crop  failures 
in   any   part   of  the   land.      The   seasons   have   been 


8  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

favorable  and  the  fields  have  yielded  the  cereals  in 
great  abundance.  The  orchards  and  gardens  have 
furnished  an  abundance  of  fruit  and  vegetables. 
Clothing  is  abundant  and  cheap  ;  we  could  never 
before  bu}'  such  good,  warm  woolen  goods  for  so 
little  monej^  Mines  of  coal,  iron  and  other  metals 
have  not  become  exhausted,  while  oil  and  gas  wells 
have  greatly  multiplied  and  force  out  their  treasures 
for  our  comfort.  Nature  has  been  lavish  in  her 
blessings,  even  the  cold  of  winter  seemed  tempered 
to  the  needs  of  the  poor.  A  kind  Providence  has 
been  over  us.  The  strange  anomal}'^  is  cold,  hunger 
and  suffering  in  the  midst  of  teeming  abundance. 

The3^  are  not  caused  by  a  scourge  of  pestilence. 
The  public  health  was  never  better.  We  have  come 
to  understand  the  conditions  a  vigorous  body  re- 
quires. The  stud3^  of  physiology  and  h^-giene  in  our 
public  schools  has  made  this  generation  more  intel- 
ligent in  the  care  of  the  health,  and  the  benefits  are 
seen  in  this  freedom  from  any  public  scourge  and 
the  gradual  lengthening  of  the  average  of  human 
life. 

Quarantine  regulations  by  the  general  govern- 
ment, and  also  careful  guarding  against  contagious 
diseases  b}'  State,  municipal  and  township  authori- 
ties, have  made  it  quite  improbable  that  any  general 
pestilence  shall  occur  among  us. 

Vigorous  physical  health  has  now  become  the 
fashion.  Attenuation  of  body  is  no  longer  regarded 
as  indicating  a  refinement  of  mind.  Clothing  and 
shoes  are  now  worn  that  fit  and  are  comfortable. 
Tiie  contraction  of  any  part  of  the  body  is  now  vulgar. 
College  athletics  are  carried  to  such  extremes  that 
this    development    of   the    physical    occupies    more 


WHEREFORE.  9 

space,  as  reported  to  the  public,  than  the  develop- 
ment of  the  mind.  We  know  all  about  college  teams 
but  scarcely  hear  of  their  literar}^  work.  It  can  be 
readily  seen  how  pestilence  would  paralyze  all  busi- 
ness, and  this  was  appreciated  by  the  general  govern- 
ment at  the  opening  of  the  year  1893  and  guarded 
against  with  severe  restrictions.  But  no  shadow 
even  of  such  a  calamity  has  been  upon  us. 

There  has  been  no  war  to  disorganize  society. 
War  is  expected  to  produce  suffering,  and  times  of 
peace  should  be  promotive  of  general  prosperity  and 
happiness.  There  is,  and  has  been,  profound  peace 
for  years,  not  only  in  all  parts  of  this  land,  but  all  over 
the  w^orld;  3'et  the  shrinkage  of  values  and  financial 
distress  is  as  great  as  if  an  invading  army  w^ere 
threatening  every  community. 

Strikes  of  laborers  is  not  a  cause,  but  a  result,  in 
these  times;  and  an  unavoidable  result  with  the 
most  considerate  emplo3'er.  The  competition  is  very 
close  in  ever^^  line  of  manufactured  products,  and  the 
customers  require  concessions,  and  one  concession 
seems  but  to  encourage  them  to  ask  for  another. 
The  Model  Employer  must  continually^  resist  this 
pressure  and  uphold  prices  that  will  afford  his  work- 
men living  wages,  and  himself  a  fair  profit.  This 
pressure  upon  prices  is  all  but  irresistible  in  ordinary 
prosperous  times,  and  that  manufacturer  is  strong 
who  can  resist  the  tendencj^  to  3'ield  the  greater  dis- 
counts asked  ;  but  the  manufacturer  is  helpless  \vhen 
prices  break  to  pieces  and  cotne  crashing  about  his 
head.  There  is  but  one  alternative,  either  to  close 
his  shop  or  produce  at  cheaper  rates.  Then  the  cut 
must  come  in  the  w^ages,  and  the  laborer  resists, 
blames    and    strikes,   charging   the    employer    w^ith 


10  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

severity,  when  he  is  himself  crushed  by  a  weight  he 
is  powerless  to  resist.  When  the  price  of  everything  . 
manufactured,  from  a  steam  engine  to  toothpicks, 
has  depreciated  the  half,  there  is  no  resisting  the 
destruction  of  wages.  The  cause  of  the  strike  is  the 
depression  the  manufacturer  cannot  avoid.  That 
which  causes  the  depression  is  the  real  trouble  to  be 
sought  and  corrected. 

The  wandering  so-called  "armies"  are  a  protest 
against  the  wrongs  but  ill-defined,  which  the3^  are 
suffering  and  which  they  believe  the  government 
can  relieve.  This  condition  of  unrest  and  discontent 
and  homeless  wandering  is  abnormal  in  a  time  of 
peace,  when  ever}"  one  should  be  reclining  in  comfort, 
happ3'  and  contented  under  his  own  fruit  trees. 

There  has  been  no  special  outbreak  of  vice  to 
enervate  our  people  and  waste  their  substance. 
Gambling,  that  was  so  ruinous  to  the  thousands  that 
risked  their  fortunes,  has  been  largely  suppressed 
and  driven  from  our  borders.  The  amount  expended 
in  lotteries  formerl}"  was  enormous,  but  no  foot-hold 
is  now  afforded  anywhere,  and  our  mails  are  closed 
against  their  advertisements  and  their  tickets  and 
their  remittances,  under  a  penalty.  Even  the  slot 
machines  have  been  driven  from  most  of  our  cities. 
The  crusade  against  this  sin  has  been  wonderfulh" 
successful,  so  that  even  the  speculation  in  grains  is 
now  regarded  as  blame-w^orth}".  There  has  been 
quite  a  clearing  of  the  atmosphere,  and  an  education 
that  has  stopped  this  drain  and  waste. 

There  has  been  a  wonderful  advance  in  the  over- 
throw of  the  sin  of  intemperance.  There  never  was 
a  time  when  there  was  such  a  concurrence  of  public 
sentiment  against  this  evil.     The  amount  of  waste 


WHEREFORE.  11 

is  enormous  each  N^ear  and  the  amount  of  suffering- 
inexpressible,  and  the  number  of  human  lives  lost 
and  homes  ruined  is  ver^^  great.  Yet  this  evil  has 
not  been  increased,  but  greatly  decreased.  No  man 
can  now  secure  a  responsible  place  on  a  railroad,  not 
even  that  of  brakenian  or  of  track-walker  who  is  ad- 
dicted to  this  vice.  The  positions  of  trust  in  shops 
and  stores  are  now  occupied  b}^  sober  men.  The 
pulpit  is  a  unit' in  denunciation  of  this  sin.  and 
clerg3'  and  laity  in  the  church  generally  are  now 
teetotalers.  This  habit  is  now  largely'  confined  to 
the  lowest  order  of  the  lowest  classes,  whose  influ- 
ence in  society  as  a  controlling  force  w^ould  be  slight 
were  it  not  that  universal  suffrage  makes  them  a 
power  that  cannot  be  disregarded  by  the  political 
manipulators.  The  modern  medical  remedies  are 
now  successfully^  applied  to  those  who  have  social 
standing  or  pride  or  good  family  associations. 

The  filthy  and  expensive  so-called  luxury  of  tobac- 
co has  not  increased.  At  the  opening  of  our  nation's 
history"  everybod}'  used  tobacco  in  some  form.  The 
men  chewed  it  and  smoked  it.  and  the  women 
smoked  it  and  snuffed  it.  Now  in  all  the  northern 
portion  of  our  country,  a  wonaan  under  sixt3^  j^ears  of 
age  who  either  smokes  or  snuffs  is  a  rarity-,  and  she 
is  also  rarely  found  among  the  cultivated  and  ele- 
gant ladies  of  the  South.  Practicallv  all  the  clersrv 
of  the  North,  and  largely  in  the  South,  are  free  from 
this  habit.  Professional  men  and  gentlemen  no 
longer  take  it  with  them  to  church  or  the  parlors. 
Its  use  is  confined  to  certain  rooms  at  our  hotels,  a 
certain  car  in  our  trains  and  the  back  seat  on  street 
lines.     The  expense  is  enormous,  yet  no  candid  ob- 


12  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

server   can   fail    to    note    that   this    habit    is    in    the 
decline  among  the  better  people. 

Tt  is  not  those  addicted  to  vicious  and  filthy 
habits  that  are  now  especially  the  sufferers,  but  they 
are  the  most  enterprising  and  thrifty  and  helpful  in 
all  that  makes  men  better  and  the  world  happier. 
Those  who  had  bought  homes  and  were  struggling 
to  pay  for  them  ;  those  who  had  engaged  in  hopeful 
and  promising  business  enterprises,  for  their  own 
benefit  and  for  the  benefit  of  their  communities,  are 
ruined  beyond  even  the  hope  of  recovery.  These  evils 
may  aggravate  the  trouble  in  certain  homes  where 
the  incomes  have  become  meagre  and  little  is  left 
for  the  comiuon  necessaries  of  life  after  these  habits 
are  served,  but  thej^  existed  before  in  much  greater 
force  than  now,  and  were  fastened  upon  those  in 
much  higher  social  position. 

There  are  those  who  talk  \visely  of  the  stated 
financial  disasters  occurring  at  regular  periods,  of 
about  twenty  3'ears,  as  the  turn  of  seasons  and  as 
the  tides  of  the  sea,  and  to  be  so  received  and  pro- 
vided for.  But  a  regular  effect  must  have  a  regular 
recurring  cause  and  therefore  should  have  our  ear- 
nest attention,  that  it  ma}^  be  discovered,  not  only  for 
our  own  comfort  and  safet}^  but  also  for  the  benefit 
of  the  generations  that  shall  come  after  us.  We  do 
not  rest  at  ease  until  we  mark  the  tides'  limits  and 
their  cause;  and  the  seasons  are  calendared  and  ex- 
plained. So  this  periodicit3^  of  commercial  disaster, 
if  it  be  a  fact,  should  have  its  cause  understood  that 
we  may  provide  against  it  in  the  future  ;  but  it  is 
not  a  fact  that  there  are  regularl3^  recurring  periods 
of  depression.  These  occasions  have  been  numerous 
it  is  true,  lasting  from  five  to  five  hundred  ^^ears,  as 


WHEREFORE.  13 

during  the  ages  when  the  Roman  Empire  went  out 
in  night,  but  each  period  has  had  a  cause  peculiar 
to  itself. 

These  hard  times  are  not  caused  by  tariff  laws  in 
force  or  prospective.  They  began  prior  to  the 
special  protective  tariff  legislation  which  has  marked 
the  past  few  years  and  which  is  yet  in  force.  That 
legislation  was  for  the  very  purpose  of  forcing  pros- 
perit}',  which  was  declining,  and  it  possibly  did  have 
a  temporary  appearance  of  accomplishing  that  re- 
sult. Farming  as  an  occupation  was  not  pa3"ing  and 
relief  was  sought  from  unrecompensed  farm  drudg- 
ery. Manufactories  were  encouraged  and  a  rush 
was  made  from  the  country  to  the  cities,  that  de- 
pleted the  country  but  caused  the  cities  to  spritig  up 
as  if  by  magic,  and  there  was  a  great  urban  boom 
that  looked  like  permanent  prosperity'  ;  but  the  hard 
times  continued  to  grind  down,  and  the  cities  with 
their  factories  were  distressed.  Then  these  same 
protective  laws  were  charged  with  being  the  cause  of 
misfortune,  and  the  party  which  promised  their  re- 
peal was  placed  in  power  with  such  a  niajorit3'  as 
seldom  falls  to  the  lot  of  any  political  organization. 
But  the  hard  times  kept  grinding  down  closer  still. 
Then  the  people  in  desperation  cried  out  that  the}^ 
had  made  a  mistake,  for  the  very  possibilit}'  of  a 
change  of  tariff  had  increased  their  burden.  The 
Hebrew  people  were  anxious  that  Moses  should  de- 
liver them  from  their  oppressions,  but  when  he  un- 
dertook it  and  went  before  Pharaoh,  and  Pharaoh 
said,  "these  people  are  discontented  because  thej" 
are  idle,"  and  ordered  their  tasks  heavier  than  be- 
fore, the  Hebrews  wished  they  had  been  contented 
to  grind   on  in  their  bondage.     The   cr3'  was  raised, 


®es 


The  Senate  as  iu  Committee  of  tlie  Wliole,  having  under  consideration  the  bill  (II.  It, 
4864)  to  reduce  taxation,  to  provide  revenue  for  tlie  Government  and  for  other  purpo'fees — 

Mr.  CAMEROX  said  : 

Mr.  President  :    For  a  hundred  years  this   matter  of  a  protective 
tariff  has  been  thrashed  out  between  the  two  or  three  great  parties  and 
the  two  or  three  great   interests  of  the  United   States,  and  still  it  re- 
mains as  serious  as  when  it  nearly  broke  the  Union  sixty  years  ago. 
******* 

For  my  own  part  I  want  to  do  more  than  restore  the  tariff.  The 
tariff  alone  is  not  enoiigli  to  make  a  complete  or  a  strong  national  policy. 
On  the  tariff  alone  I  cannot  appeal  with  confidence  to  the  whole  people. 
I  repeat  and  I  insist  that  the  tariff  and  silver  are  two  sides  of  the  same, 
issue.  They  are  bound  together  by  necessity.  The  one  without  the 
other  must  break  down.    Both  together  are  invincible. 

"  The  panic  of  1837  occurred  under  the  Clay  tariff  averaging  about  22 
per  cent.  The  panic  of  1857  occurred  under  the  Walker  tariff  averaging 
25 per  cent.  The  panic  of  1873  come  tinder  the  Morrell  tariff,  which  aver- 
aged 48  per  cent,  and  the  panic  of  1893  occurred  under  the  McKinley 
tariff,  which  averaged  58  per  cent.  Here  we  find  that  two  disastrous 
panics  came  tinder  lowest  tariff's  since  181t5,  and  also  that  two  terrible 
panics  came  under  the  highest  tariffs  we  ever  had.  This  proves  that 
panics  came  under  low  tariffs  and  high  tariffs." 

EX-SPEAKER  : 

"  If  I  must,  I  will  even  lead  silver  to  get  the  old  issue  on  its  feet  for 
one  more  race." 

OHIO'S  GOVERNOR,  Ausust  15,  1894  : 

"  I  am  sure  these  recent  events  will  revive  my  old  hobby  for  a  suc- 
cessful ride  in  1896." 

PRESIDENT  : 

"Hold  the  old  issue  up,  my  cuckoos,  or  I  may  have  to 'confront' 
silver." 


16  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

"do  not  touch  the  tariff,"  and  it  is  not  likely  that 
any  great  modification  will  be  accomplished  during 
the  tenure  of  power  of  the  party  that  was  placed  in 
authority  by  the  people  for  that  very  purpose.  The 
times  have  not  been  affected  by  the  prospect  of  re- 
peal, which    seemed    certain   after   the   elections   of 

1892,  nor  are  there  now  signs  of  relief,  when  it  is  well 
assured  after  months  of  discussion  that  there  will 
be  no  material  change  1)y  this  congress.  The  fac- 
tories do  not  start.  Wheat,  cotton  and  wool  are  sell- 
ing lower  than  ever.  Assignments  and  sheriff  sales 
continue. 

The  "silver  purchase  clause,"  in  the  summer  of 

1893,  had  to  bear  all  the  blame  of  the  financial  dis- 
tress. For  its  repeal  a  special  session  of  congress 
was  called,  and  no  other  business  was  permitted 
until  that  was  accomplished.  That  measure  gave  no 
relief  as  it  was  seen  before  its  passage  that  it  would 
not.  The  burden  of  that  silver  purchase  was  but 
that  of  a  feather  to  a  giant.  It  sapped  the  blood,  but 
it  was  only  as  a  mosquito  sucking  blood  from  an 
elephant.  The  effect  of  that  purchase  clause  was  too 
inconsiderable  to  be  worthy  of  serious  notice  and  its 
repeal  was  not  worth  what  it  cost. 

They  are  not  caused  b}^  pensions.  Vast  amounts 
are  paid  to  pensioners,  and  possibly  to  a  few  who  are 
unworthy,  but  this  is  spent  at  home,  and  is  paid 
mostly  to  those  who  otherwise  would  be  more  or  less 
dependent,  and  is  an  honorable  and  worthy  method 
of  relief.  If  it  were  not  for  these  pensions  many  a 
crippled  old  man  would  now  be  finding  his  way 
"over  the  hills  to  the  poor-house,"  and  many  widows 
would  be  separated  from  their  little  ones,  who  are 
now  in  economical  but  comfortable  homes  bringing 


WHEREFORE.  17 

up  their  children  to  love  the  flag,  which  was  pro- 
tected by  their  natural  protectors,  and  which  now  in 
turn  protects  them.  The  suffering  in  these  times 
is  greatl}'  relieved  by  our  ]:)ension  legislation. 

The  trouble  is  financial.  All  property  values  have 
shrunk  awa}'  one-lialf  or  more.  The  producers  of 
staple  products  are  compelled  to  sell  them  at  lower 
prices  than  have  ever  been  known  before.  One-fourth 
of  our  voters,  3,000,000,  are  out  of  employment,  and  the 
farmers,  5,000,000  more,  are  compelled  to  work  for 
wages  that  afford  no  promise  of  gain.  Collections 
cannot  be  made.  Debtors  have  no  money.  Manu- 
facturers cannot  operate  because  they  cannot  sell 
their  goods.  They  cannot  buy  raw  material  for 
which  they  have  no  use. 

There  have  been  somewhat  similar  hard  times 
again  and  again  in  our  history;  some  have  been 
severe  and  lasted  for  years.  There  was  a  rally  from 
others  in  a  few  months. 

The  first  great  depression  \vas  in  1809,  but  the 
panics  usually  mentioned  are  those  of  1818,  1837, 
1857  and  1873.  Each  of  these  had  a  definite  cause, 
which  was  seen  after  the  stringenc)^  was  over  more 
clearly  than  in  the  midst  of  the  suffering. 

The  panic  of  1809  was  especially  severe  in  New 
Bngland.  Banks  had  been  organized  with  little  cap- 
ital, and  that  often  was  not  paid  in,  and  yet  they 
issued  notes  far  beyond  the  atnount  they  could  ever 
hope  to  redeem.  The  tiine  came  when  this  inflation 
must  cease  and  payment  was  demanded.  The  effort 
to  contract  brought  on  the  crash.  The  money  was 
worthless.  One  bank  had  issued  half  a  million  of 
dollars  in  paper,  and  less  than  one  hundred  dollars 
in  coin  was  found  in  the  vault  for  its  redemption. 


18  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

In  1816  a  government  bank  was  chartered,  which 
two  years  later  brought  on  a  financial  panic  by  an 
effort  also  to  contract  its  inflated  currency.  With 
$300,000  of  silver  it  had  issued  six  million  dollars  in 
notes  which  w^ere  outstanding.  It  endeavored  to 
collect  its  loans  and  increase  its  reserve  of  specie, 
w^hich  brought  on  a  condition  of  distress  that  pros- 
trated all  business.  Stay  laws  were  passed  by  some 
States  to  prevent  the  utter  sacrifice  of  the  property 
of  the  debtor  class.  The  financial  distress  at  this 
time  prevailing  in  England,  caused  by  the  establish- 
ment of  the  gold  standard  in  1816,  also  increased  the 
severity  here. 

The  stringency  of  1837  was  caused  by  the  war  of 
President  Jackson  on  the  National  Bank.  In  1836 
he  issued  his  specie  circular  forbidding  the  accept- 
ance of  the  bank's  notes  for  public  lands.  This 
brought  mone}'  to  a  specie  basis,  suddenl}^,  and  com- 
pelled the  bank  to  suspend  in  1837.  The  j)aper  money, 
which  was  almost  exclusively'  in  use,  was  worthless 
and  would  no  longer  be  accepted  in  paj^ment  of  debts 
of  an_y  kind  and  all  Inisiness  was  paralyzed  and  did 
not  rally  for  j'ears. 

After  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California  and  Aus- 
tralia, there  was  such  a  rise  in  prices  from  the  annual 
large  additions  to  the  gold  supply  as  to  encourage  a 
spirit  of  speculation,  and  men  went  wild.  Each  day 
property  was  worth  more  than  on  the  da}'^  before. 
Anybody  could  do  business  because  everj^bodj^  did 
business  on  credit.  The  New  York  clearing  house 
was  established  and  weak  banks  were  opened  in  all 
parts  of  the  country.  The  Ohio  Trust  Co.  started 
the  panic  by  its  failure.  It  was  found  that  all  its 
funds  had  been    embezzled.      Frauds   without   end 


WHKKEFORE.  19 

were  discovered  in  other  institutions  and  confidence 
in  all  monetar}'^  concerns  was  destroyed.  A  period 
of  depreciation  of  values  and  financial  distress  fol- 
lowed. But  that  was  the  year  of  the  greatest  output 
of  gold  in  California,  $65,000,000,  and  the  panic  was 
over  in  a  few  months  and  commercial  confidence 
returned. 

The  currency  was  inflated  during  the  war,  and 
after  its  close  the  government  was  seeking  to  return 
to  specie  payment  at  as  earl}^  a  date  as  possible. 
This  required  a  contraction  of  currency  and  a  neces- 
sary fall  of  prices.  Coin  had  not  been  in  circulation 
since  18<U,  when  it  suddenly  disappeared  in  a  day, 
and  the  people  were  anxious  for  a  speedy  return  to  a 
specie  or  metallic  basis  This,  they  thought,  would 
indicate  a  complete  recover^^  from  the  misfortunes 
of  war  and  be  a  warrant}'  of  a  stable  and  reliable 
future  prosperity.  On  Februarj^  12,  1873,  Congress 
passed  a  bill,  which  omitted  the  silver  dollar  from 
the  coins  of  the  United  States  and  made  gold 
exclusively  the  measure  of  all  values.  This  demon- 
etizing of  silver  preceded  the  crash.  The  act  is  very 
long  and  regulates  all  the  minutiaiof  coinage.  This 
omission  of  silver  was  possibly  not  noticed  by  any 
except  those  having  the  bill  in  charge.  It  was  not 
discussed  nor  was  attention  called  to  the  possible 
effect  this  might  have  on  the  financial  future.  The 
revised  statutes  were  adopted  June  22,  1874.  In  this 
revision  the  silver  dollars  were  deprived  of  their  legal 
tender  character,  and  the  demonetizing  of  silver  was 
completed. 

The  panic  began  with  the  failure  of  Ja}'  Cooke  Sc 
Co.  This  house  had  been  unusually  prosperous  and 
enjoyed  the  confidence  of  the  government,  and  of  the 


Mr.  DAWES.  The  distinguished  Englishiiiaii,  to  wiioiii  I  referred, 
■who  was  charged  with  coming  over  liere  to  do  the  opposite  of  wliat  he 
did,  was  Ernest  Seyd. 

Mr.  Beck.  I  observe,  if  tlie  gentleman  will  allow  nie,  tliat  on  the 
flth  day  of  April,  1872,  when  the  bill  was  read  up  to  its  sixth  section  and 
laid  aside  and  never  taken  vip  again,  the  gentleman  from  Massachu- 
setts [Mr.  HooperJ  remarked  : 

The  bill  was  prepared  two  years  ago,  anil  has  been  suhmitte'l  to  careful  and  deliberate 
examinations.  It  has  the  approval  of  nearly  all  the  mint  experts  of  the  country,  and  the 
sanction  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  Mr.  Krnest  Seyd.  <>f  London,  a  distintruished 
writer  who  has  siven  Rreut  attention  to  the  suli.iect  of  mints  and  (coinage,  after  examining 
tlie  llrst  draft  of  the  bill,  fiirnislied  many  valuable  sugi<esfions  wliicli  tune  been  incorporated 
in  the  bill. 

I  suppose  he  is  the  same  person. 

Mr.  Dawes.    There  is  no  doubt  about  that  fact.     (vSee  iJage  123  Con- 

^ressiotiRl  Record,  December  13. 1877.) 

Detnonetization  was  known  at  the  time  by  at  least  one.  The  Senator 

from  Ohio  say.s  : 

Sir.  I  would  rattier  stand  this  day  tiefore  you  defondinsj  a  law  wliicti  has  been  denounced 
and  vilified  as  this  lias  l)een,  tjolrtly  avowing  tliat  I  did  read  the  law.  aiul  that  I  Ivuew  its 
contents,  than  to  plead  the  bal)y  act.  and  say  I  did  not  know  what  was  pending tiere  t)efore 
us  for  two  or  three  years  as  an  act  of  legislation.— fV<«(//'#ssio«(f/ AVcorrf,  August  31,  1893, 
page  925. 

Senator  Beck,  in  a  speech  made  in  the  Senate  January  10, 1878,  said  : 

It  [tlie  1)111  demonetizing  silver]  never  was  understood  by  either  House  of  Congress.  I 
say  tliat  witli  full  knowledge  of  the  facts.  No  newspaper  reporter — and  they  are  the  most 
vigilant  men  I  ever  saw  in  obtaining  information— discovered  that  it  had  been  done. — ('o)i- 
giessioiial  Record,  volume  7,  part  1,  Forty-tifth  Congress,  second  session,  page  260. 

Senator  Hereford,  in  the  Senate,  on  Februar3'  13, 1878,  in  discussing 

the  demonitization  of  silver,  said  : 

So  that  I  say  that  beyond  the  possibility  of  a  doubt  (and  tliere  is  no  disputing  if)  that  bill 
which  demonetized  silver,  as  it  passed,  never  was  read,  never  was  discussed,  and  that  the 
chairman  of  tlie  committee  who  reported  it,  who  offered  the  sub.stitute,  said  to  Mr.  Holman, 
when  inquired  of,  that  it  did  not  affect  ttie  coinage  in  any  way  whatever. — IbhL,  page  989. 

"Why  the  act  of  1873,  which  forbids  tlie  coinage  of  the  silver  dollar,  was  passed  no  one 
at  this  day  can  give  a  good  reason." — Senator  IJogy,  of  'SI\ss{)\\y\,\\\  <_'())i(ji-ess'ton(il  Hecord, 
volume  4,  part  5.  Forty-fourth  Congress,  first  session,  page  4178. 

On  February  15,  1878,  during  the  consideration  of  the  bill  above  re- 
ferred to,  the  following  colloquy  between  Senator  Blaine  and  Senator 
Voorhees  took  place : 

Mr.  Voorhees.  1  want  to  ask  my  friend  from  Maine,  whom  I  am  glad  to  designate  in 
that  way,  whether  I  may  call  him  as  one  more  witness  to  the  fact  that  it  was  not  generally 
known  whether  silver  was  demonetized.  Did  he  know,  as  Speaker  of  the  House,  presiding 
at  that  time,  tliat  the  silver  dollar  was  denmnetizeil  in  the  bill  to  which  he  alludes  V 

Mr.  Blaine.  I  did  not  know  anything  tliat  was  in  the  bill  at  all.  As  I  have  before  said, 
little  was  known  or  cared  on  the  sutiject.  |Laugliter.]  And  now  I  should  like  to  exchange 
fiuestions  with  the  Senator  from  Indiana,  who  was  then  on  the  tioor  and  wliose  business  it 
was,  far  more  than  mine,  to  know,  because  tiy  the  desigiuition  of  the  House  I  was  to  put 
tjuestions  ;  the  Seiuitor  from  Indiana,  then  on  the  tloor  of  the  House,  with  his  power  as  a 
debater,  was  to  unfold  them  to  the  House.     Did  lie  know? 

.Mr.  Voorhees.    I  very  frankly  say  that  I  did  not. 

(IbiiL,  page  1063.) 


22  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

people  all  over  the  countr}-.  Universal  distrust  com- 
pelled the  banks  to  suspend.  The  weaker  manufac- 
tories were  compelled  to  close  and  this  long  period 
of  general  depression  began,  which,  with  increasing 
severitj',  continues.  There  have  been  efforts  to  resist 
this,  but  there  has  been  a  steady  decline  in  prices 
and  a  rapid  decline  the  last  two  years.  The  good 
solid  times  anticipated  when  we  should  again  be 
upon  a  metallic  basis  were  not  realized.  Before  the 
resumption  of  specie  payment,  silver  had  been 
destroyed  as  monej'.  Coin  was  made  to  mean  gold 
only. 

All  the  previous  financial  stringencies  w^ere 
caused  by  the  contraction  of  the  currency  so  as  to 
conform  somewhat  to  the  amount  of  both  silver  and 
gold.  This  has  been  caused  by  contraction  to  reach 
a  specie  basis,  but  just  before  that  was  reached  the 
specie  basis  was  itself  contracted  one-half.  The  silver 
half  was  taken  awa}^  when  it  was  as  good  as  the  gold 
half  and  slightly  better,  for  silver  was  at  a  premium. 
All  legal  tender  coin  must  be  gold  coin;  ever}'-  dol- 
lar a  gold  dollar  containing  25.8  grains  of  gold.  This 
caused  the  depression  that  has  been  constant,  though 
with  varying  severity,  since  1873.  The  extreme  hard 
times  of  these  later  years  is  increased  by  the  suc- 
cessful efforts  to  destroy  silver  as  a  basis  of  money 
among  other  nations.  The  intense  evil  effect  of 
demonetizing  silver  and  adopting  the  single  gold 
basis  we  only  now  are  beginning  to  realize. 


USES  OF  MONEY.  23 


USES  OF  MONEY. 

ARTICLE    II. 

Money  has  two  uses.  It  is  a  measure  of  value 
and  a  medium  of  exchange.  When  a  medium  of 
exchange  it  is  called  currency.  These  two  uses 
must  be  clearly  distinguished.  The  most  of  the  con- 
fusion in  discussion  of  this  subject  has  been  from  a 
failure  to  keep  them  distinct  in  the  mind. 

The  value  of  property  is  measured  when  ap- 
praised. When  the  assessor  takes  an  inventory  of  a 
community  he  measures  the  value  of  each  individ- 
ual's lands  and  live  stock  and  goods  of  every  kind, 
and  the  amount  is  set  over  against  each  for  tax 
assessment.  When  a  person  dies  and  his  estate  is 
to  be  distributed  atnong  his  heirs,  appraisers  are 
appointed  to  measure  the  value  of  all  his  property, 
when  it  passes  into  the  hands  of  the  administrator. 
The  value  of  any  article  sold  must  be  measured. 
The  difficulty  of  applying  the  measure  so  as  to  ascer- 
tain the  value  accurately  is  the  cause  usually  of  the 
contention  between  buj^er  and  seller.  When  ascer- 
tained it  is  stated  with  great  precision  in  dollars, 
cents  and  fractions  of  a  cent.  The  quantity  of  the 
property  can  mostly  be  definitely  settled.  If  it  is 
land,  it  can  be  carefully  measured  and  the  exact 
amount  determinefl,  but  the  value  depends  upon  fer- 
tility, nearness  to  market,  and  other  conditions  that 
may  be  regarded  as  more  or  less  important  with 
each  individual,  and  makes  their  estimates  differ. 
If  the   property  is   live   stock,  it  can   be  counted  or 


24  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

weighed,  but  the  value  depends  on  so  nian>"  condi- 
tions, that  it  is  not  ver}"  eas3"  for  the  buj'er  and  seller 
to  agree  upon  the  price.  The  value  of  the  horse 
does  not  depend  upon  its  weight.  The  quantit}^  of 
grain  or  vegetables  can  be  stated  in  bushels  b}^ 
appU'ing  the  measure  direct.  Liquids  can  be  meas- 
ured and  the  quantity  stated  with  exactness  in  gal- 
lons or  barrels.  But  the  difficulty  in  measuring  the 
value  causes  the  arguing  and  disputing  over  prices. 

On  the  other  hand,  when  the  measure  of  value  is 
definitely  settled  and  it  is  inconvenient  or  impossible 
to  secure  the  measure  of  quantity,  there  is  usually 
the  same  amount  of  difference  and  argument  between 
buyer  and  seller.  The  price  of  fruit  may  be  agreed 
upon  but  it  is  impossible  to  determine  the  amount 
of  fruit  3^et  ungathered  in  the  orchard.  The  price  of 
beef  ma3^  be  settled  but  it  is  impossible  to  agree 
upon  the  weight  of  the  cattle  in  the  pasture.  The 
price  of  wool  ma3^  be  agreed  upon  but  the  quantity 
of  wool  upon  the  unshorn  flock  ma}^  be  a  matter  of 
discussion.  In  all  barter  the  quantit}'  must  be  defi- 
nitely settled,  either  b}^  actual  measurement  or  esti- 
mate, and  the  price  or  measured  value  also  be  agreed 
upon.  There  may  be  trading  of  properties.  Farms 
ma^^  be  traded,  horses  may  be  swapped,  articles  maj'^ 
be  exchanged,  but  there  can  be  no  selling  of  an^'thing 
for  mone^^  without  first  measuring  the  value  by  the 
unit  of  an  accepted  standard.  Our  unit  for  the  meas- 
urement of  all  values  is  the  dollar,  and  as  established 
in  1873  b}"  this  government,  is  25.8  grains  gold.  The 
measure  of  value  is  in  the  weight  of  the  metal.  The 
stamp  of  the  mint  onl3"  certifies  that  the  coin  con- 
tains full  weight,  and  is  of  the  required  purit}''. 

Whoever  has  25.8  grains  gold  has  a  dollar,  but  he 


USES  OF  MOXKY.  25 

must  take  it  to  the  mint  and  receive  the  government 
stamp  upon  it,  a  certificate  of  weight  and  purity, 
before  it  becomes  a  legal  tender. 

Paper  money  measures  values  onl}^  so  far  as  it 
represents  this  metal. 

When  the  possibility  of  the  Confederate  paper 
money  ever  being  redeemed  in  the  precious  metals 
disappeared,  it  lost  all  purchasing  power.  When 
our  paper  currency  was  abundant,  and  the  govern- 
ment in  jeopard}^  its  purchasing  power  varied  as  the 
possibilities  of  its  redemption  in  coin  varied. 

The  unit  bj^  which  either  quantity  or  value  is 
measured,  should  be  fixed  and  unchangeable.  The 
inch,  foot,  3^ard  and  rod  should  be  the  same  from 
year  to  year  and  from  age  to  age.  They  should  be 
neither  lengthened  nor  shortened.  The  same  num- 
ber of  feet  of  lumber  should  be  in  the  pile  when 
taken  down  for  use  that  was  put  into  it.  The  bolt  of 
cloth  should  measure  the  same  3^ards  that  it  did 
when  folded,  though  it  has  been  wrapped  up  for  20 
years.  The  farm  should  measure  the  same  rods, 
feet  and  inches  that  it  did  as  recorded  in  the  patent 
from  the  government  received  by  the  great  grand- 
father. The  liquid  measures,  barrel,  gallon,  quart 
and  pint,  and  the  weights,  ton,  pound  and  ounce,  must 
remain  the  same,  or  endless  confusion  will  result  in 
the  measures  of  quantities. 

The  dollar,  the  unit  of  value,  should  have  a  per- 
manency that  is  not  disturbed  b}^  legislation  and  that 
no  ordinary  variation  in  the  production  of  nature 
would  affect.  It  should  remain  the  same  from  age 
to  age,  that  vested  funds  may  be  safe  and  stable  and 
that  long  tenures  like  land  rentals  or  99-year  railroad 
leases  may  not  be  disturbed. 


26  THESE    HARD  TIMES. 

In  this  connection  a  portion,  at  least,  of  the 
famous  letter  of  John  Sherman,  dated  Maj^  18,  1867, 
may  be  quoted  with  approval.  This  letter  was 
w^ritten  to  Samuel  B.  Ruggles,  the  commissioner 
appointed  1)3'^  the  United  States  to  the  Monetary- 
Conference  then  in  session  in  Paris.  Fn  this  letter 
he  strongly  urges  a  single  gold  standard  coin  of 
uniform  weight,  as  a  unit  among  the  nations  repre- 
sented. The  franc  had  been  suggested  and  the  pos- 
sibilitj"  of  making  the  weight  of  our  dollar  conform 
to  the  weight  of  the  five  franc  coin  in  gold  ;  this 
w^ould  slightly  reduce  its  weight.  On  this  point  he 
says  plainl}',  "We  will  have  soine  dificulty  in  ad- 
justing existing  contracts  with  the  new  dollar  ;  but 
as  contracts  are  now  based  upon  thefluctuating  value 
of  paper  money,  even  the  reduced  dollar  in  coin  will 
have  more  purchasable  value  than  our  currency. 
We  can  easily  adjust  the  reduction  w4th  the  public 
creditors  in  the  payment  or  conversion  of  their  se- 
curities, while  private  creditors  might  be  authorized 
to  recover  upon  the  old  standard.  All  these  are 
matters  of  detail,  to  which  I  hope  the  commission 
will  direct  their  attention." 

Money  as  a  medium  of  exchange  mereU"  repre- 
sents value  and  conveys  that  representation.  It  need 
not  have  value  in  itself.  The  vehicle  that  is  emplo^^ed 
to  convey  precious  goods  may  be  of  little  worth. 
The  value  lies  in  the  goods  convej^ed.  The  mediuin 
of  transportation  is  possibly  thrown  away  as  worth- 
less when  the  goods  are  received. 

When  an  article  is  sold,  a  note  may  be  given  by 
the  buyer  to  the  seller,  oti  which  is  certified  the  value 
of  the  article.  An^'  amount,  great  or  small,  may  be 
written  in  it;  its  power  lies  in  the  sum  which  it  rep- 


USES  OF  MONEY.  27 

resents.  The  seller  receiving  it  may  pass  it,  for 
articles  he  needs,  to  another  seller,  who,  in  turn,  may 
pass  it  to  another,  and  he  to  another;  thus  the  same 
note  inay  be  the  medium  of  many  exchanges;  especi- 
ally is  this  the  case  when  the  original  giver  of  the 
note  is  well  known,  and  known  to  be  reliable  and 
honorable.  And  if  every  man  were  known  to  be  un- 
failingly honest  and  responsible,  these  individual 
notes  would  be  all  the  medium  of  exchange  neces- 
sary. As  a  matter  of  fact  a  very  large  portion  of  our 
business  is  now^  transacted  in  this  way.  The  clearing 
houses  are  but  the  stated  exchanging  of  the  notes  and 
checks  and  drafts,  of  individuals  and  corporations, 
that  were  given  for  this  purpose;  and  the  proposed 
international  clearing  house  will  be  the  exchanging 
on  a  colossal  scale,  of  these  representations  of  value, 
between  parties  of  all  lands. 

It  is  very  convenient,  however,  to  have  these 
notes  already  inade  out  to  represent  different  values, 
and  to  have  an  endorser  well  known  and  of  recog- 
niiced  responsibility,  so  that  exchatiges  can  be  made 
quickly,  accurately  and  safely.  Money  is,  therefore, 
issued  by  the  government  representing  such  values, 
that  any  transaction,  great  or  small,  maj'  be  arranged 
w^ith  facility.  The  money  has  no  more  value  in  itself 
than  the  note  of  the  responsible  individual  or  cor- 
poration. The  paper  stamped  $5  will  represent  ten 
times  that  amount  if  stamped  $50,  or  twenty  times 
if  stamped  $100,  The  paper  may  be  common  and 
coarse,  like  the  first  issue  of  the  Confederacy  thirty' 
years  ago,  or  the  excellent  and  unique  quality  now 
used  by  our  government.  Its  importance  lies  \vholly 
in  the  representation  or  certification  of  values,  which 
it  carries. 


28  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

Coin  is  metal  stamped  to  represent  values:  the 
copper  with  which  we  make  exact  change,  is  ver}' 
common  material,  3^et  the  government  stamp  makes 
one  hundred  of  them  represent  a  dollar;  the  nickel  is 
stamped  to  represent  one-twentieth  of  a  dollar;  and 
silver  and  gold  stamped,  represent  one,  five,  ten,  or 
twenty  dollars.  The  material  of  which  coin,  as  a 
medium  of  exchange,  is  made  is  of  no  importance. 
It  may  be  iron,  copper,  nickel,  silver,  gold,  aluininum 
or  an}^  other  metal.  It  is  the  stamp  upon  the  metal, 
as  upon  the  paper,  that  determines  the  representa- 
tion of  value  it  shall  carry;  just  as  truly  as  the  date, 
amount  and  signature,  of»  an  individual's  note, 
determines  what  it  shall  represent  and  convey.  Coins 
are  not  necessary,  and  are  not  popular  as  a  medium 
of  exchange.  Paper  currency,  such  as  bank  bills, 
silv^er  and  gold  certificates,  checks  and  drafts,  are 
much  more  convenient  and  desirable. 

Money  in  the  form  of  coin  has  its  use  as  a  measure 
of  values,  but  as  a  medium  of  trade  it  might  just  as 
well  remain  carefully  and  safely  stored  in  the  treas- 
ury vaults. 


CHANGE  OF   IXIT.  29 


CHANGE  OF  UNIT. 

ARTICLE    III. 

In  order  that  there  ma}^  be  unif()rniit\^  in  nieasure- 
inents,  there  must  be  a  basis  determined  or  fixed 
upon,  also  a  unit  definitely  established,  upon  that 
basis.  Both  base  and  unit  are  arbitrarilj^  made  by 
law. 

The  seconds  pendulum  at  sea  level  is  the  deter- 
mined and  legal  basis  of  extension  and  indirectly  also 
of  weights,  in  this  country.  Many  other  things 
might  be  suggested.  The  distance  from  the  equator 
to  the  north  pole  is  the  basis  of  the  metric  system. 
The  metre  is  the  one  ten-millionth  part.  The  vibrat- 
ing pendulum  is  thought  to  be  the  most  reliable 
basis  tor  measurement  of  extension  known.  The 
human  foot  did  ver^^  well  in  a  crude  condition  of  so- 
ciety, but  now  we  require  the  most  exact  possible. 

To  measure  values  there  must  also  be  a  basis 
established  by  arbitrary  enactment.  From  the 
earliest  history  of  our  race,  silver  and  gold  have  been 
employed  in  trade  and  commerce.  Their  beauty  and 
freedom  from  tarnish  and  deca}^  and  the  limited 
quantity  produced,  made  them,  or  at  least  they  have 
become,  the  accepted  standard  among  civilized  and 
semi-civilized  peoples.  There  is  no  standard  estab- 
lished by  international  agreement.  Other  metals 
maybe  more  precious  and  more  difficult  to  procure 
from  the  mines,  but  silver  and  gold  have  been  by 
common  consent  the  standard  by  which  all  values 
are  measured.      The3"    have    forined    the  great  pen- 


30  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

duluiii  basis  of  values;  one  part  was  gold  and  sixteen 
parts  silver,  and  this  has  remained  practically  the 
fixed  ratio  of  the  metals.  This  makes  the  gold  and 
silver  portions  abovit  equal. 

Silver  and  gold  are  not  per  se  the  standard  of 
values,  any  more  than  the  pendulum  is  the  basis  of 
measurements  and  weights  perse;  but  they  are  made 
so  b}^  law.  Repeal  the  exactment  fixing  their  values, 
and  gold  and  silver  bullion  wdll  be  at  once  upon  the 
market  with  variable  fluctuating  prices  as  any  other 
commodity.  They  were  given  b^'  law  a  permanent 
but  fictitious  value,  which  is  very  different  from  the 
real  and  intrinsic. 

Silver  is  largely  used  in  the  arts.  The  tableware 
in  humble  homes  is  silver,  yet,  when  silver  was 
demonetized  silver  bullion  became  an  article  of  l)ar- 
ter,  fluctuating  and  then  greatl}'  depressed  in  price. 
Had  gold  been  demonetized  instead,  then  gold  bullion 
would  have  been  of  fluctuating  price  and  no  doubt  it 
would  have  been  depressed  more  than  silver.  The 
principal  use  of  gold  is  mone3^  three-fifths  of  the 
w^orld's  product  being  used  for  that  purpose.  Were 
its  use  as  money  and  its  fictitious  value  taken  away, 
then,  unless  some  new  use  should  be  discovered, 
gold  bullion  would  be  common  and  cheap. 

It  is  not  essential  tliat  thej'^  should  be  used  at  all 
for  this  purpose.  Some  other  metals  or  grains,  or 
lands  and  population,  might  be  made  the  basis  and 
serv^e  the  purpose  Silver  and  gold,  however,  by  the 
consent  of  the  civilized  world,  have  been  so  employed 
and  have  answered  possibly  as  well  as  any  other 
basis  could. 

The  seconds  pendulum  at  sea  level  being  the 
established  base  of  extension, the  unit  upon  that  base 


CHANOH  OF  UNIT.  31 

is  the  1-39. 1012th  part,  and  is  called  an  inch.  From 
this  we  derive  all  our  measurements.  Twelve  inches 
make  one  foot,  three  feet  one  j^ard,  and  5V2  yards  one 
rod.  Tliis,  then,  is  the  ultimate  unit  with  which  we 
measure  lumher  and  cloth  and  lands.  From  this  unit 
we  also  derive  our  liquid  measure;  231  cubic  inches 
makes  one  gallon;  and  then  by  subdivision  and  by 
multiplying,  we  have  the  quart,  pint  and  gill,  and  the 
t^arrel  and  tierce.  From  this  we  derive  also  our 
weights;  a  pound  avoirdui)oi.s  is  the  1-8. 3398th  of  a 
gallon  of  distilled  water,  and  frotri  this  we  obtain  by 
division  the  ounce  and  by  multiplying  the  ton. 

It  can  be  readily  seen  how  important  it  is  that  the 
unit  should  not  be  variable.  Should  the  inch  be 
shortened  and  made  the  l-40th  part  of  the  pendulum, 
the  change  of  that  small  fraction  in  the  inch  would 
lessen  the  foot  12  times  and  the  yard  36  times  and 
the  rod  198  times  tliat  fraction.  If  this  were  made 
binding  in  law,  it  would  increase  the  amount  of  lum- 
ber in  ever^'  ])ile  and  the  number  of  yards  in  every 
bolt  of  cloth  and  the  number  of  acres  in  every  farm; 
and  if  this  new  unit  were  made  binding  in  all  exist- 
ing contracts,  it  would  be  a  great  favor  to  those  w^ho 
are  bound  to  deliver  a  certain  number  of  feet  of  lum- 
ber or  yards  of  cloth  or  acres  of  land.  On  the  other 
hand  if  the  unit  w^ere  made  the  even  l-39th  of  the 
pendulum,  then  the  inch  would  be  lengthened,  and 
foot,  yard  and  rod  be  proporti()natel3Mncreased.  The 
amount  of  lumber  in  the  pile  would  be  decreased. 
There  would  be  fewer  yards  in  the  bolt  of  cloth  and 
fewer  acres  in  the  farm,  and  if  this  new  measure- 
ment were  made  binding  in  all  existing  contracts, 
without  warning,    it  would   l)e  a  great  hardship   to 


32  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

those  who  should  be  compelled  to  fill  them  with 
these  long  feet  or  yards  or  acres. 

If  the  unit  should  be  changed  to  the  2-39.1012th 
part, it  would  double  thelength  of  the  presentunit,the 
inch,  and  therefore  double  the  length  of  the  foot  and 
yard  and  all  measurements  of  extension.  It  would 
increase  all  square  measures  four  times.  The  square 
inch  would  be  four  times  as  large  as  it  is  now.  A 
foot  of  lumV)er  would  be  equal  to  four  feet.  The 
pound  would  be  increased  eight  times,  for  a  cubic 
inch  would  be  eight  times  larger,  as  can  be  readilj^ 
seen. 

Such  a  great  change  in  the  unit  of  our  ordinarj^ 
measurements  would  cause  complete  confusion  in  all 
our  business.  Every  contract  involving  measures  or 
weights  would  have  to  be  revised  and  changed,  or 
there  w^ould  be  endless  hardship  to  those  who  were 
bound  to  deliver  a  certain  number  of  feet  of  lumber 
or  yards  of  cloth  or  tons  of  iron;  and  if  the  law 
required  all  existing  contracts  to  be  filled  with  the 
new  measures,  there  would  be  an  utter  paral3^sis  of 
business.  There  would  not  be  enough  lumber  nor 
grain  to  fill  the  contracts,  nor  cloth  to  fill  the  accepted 
orders,  nor  acres  to  meet  the  demands  of  every  man's 
deed.  There  would  be  a  struggle  for  all  kinds  of 
property;  and  there  would  be  a  crowding  of  one  an- 
other off  the  earth.  Such  a  change  could  not  be 
thought  of  for  a  moment. 

No  change  can  be  made  without  confusion,  nor 
can  any  change,  however  slight,  be  made  b}'  laTV 
that  would  affect  contracts.  Their  sacredness  is 
provided  for  in  the  Constitjition  and  every  court  of 
jxistice  recognizes  it.  When  anj'  change  is 
made  that   will   affect  contracts    they  are   excepted. 


CHANGE  OF  UNIT.  33 

In  this  State,  Ohio,  when  the  weight  of  a  bushel  of 
oats  was  changed  from  32  to  33  pounds,  it  was  pro- 
vided that  no  existing  contracts  should  be  affected 
by  it.  If  such  a  change  were  made  in  the  unit  of  our 
common  measurements  as  to  double  it,  and  an 
attempt  were  then  made  to  enforce  existing  con- 
tracts, there  would  be  a  resistance,  and  if  the  gov- 
ernment persisted  in  the  effort  there  would  be  a  rev- 
olution, and  the  consensus  of  mankind  would  be  that 
it  was  justifiable. 

The  basis  of  values,  by  the  common  consent  of 
mankind,  civilized  and  semi-civilized,  being  silver 
and  gold,  there  must  be  a  unit  fixed  upon  that  basis. 
As  the  pendulum  is  the  base  of  extension,  so  they 
have  been  the  base  of  values  maintaining  the  rela- 
tion to  each  other,  for  ages  and  ages,  of  about  15  or 
16  to  1.  There  has  been  no  uniformity  of  unit  among 
the  nations;  the  franc,  thaler,  ducat,  sovereign  and 
many  others  are  used,  but  the  standard  has  been 
practically  one  among  all  peoples.  The  unit  of  our 
government  up  to  1873  was  412.5  grains  standard 
silver,  or  25. S  grains  standard  gold.  The  silver  unit  has 
remained  unchanged  from  the  beginning.  The  gold 
dollar  has  been  twice  modified  but  has  been  25.8 
grains  for  the  past  sixty  years.  Whoever  had  this 
anaount  of  gold  or  silver  had  a  dollar,  and  he  could 
take  it  to  the  mint  and  receive  the  government 
stamp  upon  it,  and  then  it  became  a  legal  tender. 
The  stamp  did  not  make  it  a  dollar,  but  only  certified 
that  it  contained  full  weight  and  was  of  required 
purit}^.  The  weight  of  the  coin,  and  its  proportional 
or  fractional  part  of  the  whole  base,  inakes  its  meas- 
ure of  value. 

The  combined  w^eight  of  all  the  gold  and  silver 

3 


I    1^ 


1 1 1- 


u 


I     I 


I     '      I     '     '  I  '     '  i 


'     '  I 


The  Standard  of  Measures  is  the  Seconds  Pendulum  at  Sea  Level. 


1783. 

One  inch  is  the  39  tVt2  part  of  the  seconds  pendulum  at  sea  level. 

Two  inches  is  the  3  9.T0T2  part. 

One  dollar  is  the  toooooooooo  part  of  the  base  of  values. 

You  can  take  it  from  either  end. 

If  you  take  it  from  the  silver  end,  j-ou  get  412.5  grains  standard  silver. 

If  you  take  it  from  the  gold  end,  you  get  25.S  grains  standard  gold. 

1813. 

A  dollar  is  the  yoooFffo^Fooo  part. 

You   can  take  it  from   either  end  and  it  will  be  25.8  grains  standard 
gold. 

The  pendulum  has  not  been  lengthened;    the  dollar  has  not  been 
made  heavier;  but  it  has  been  made  longer— just  twice  as  long. 


One  ten-billionth   part   of  the  twined  wire  is  a  dollar. 

Two  ten-billionth  part  of  the  single  wire  is  a  dollar. 

The  dollar  is  twice  as  long  on  the  single  as  on  the  double  base. 


36  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

in  the  world  is  about  138,000  tons  ;  8,000  tons  of  gold 
and  130,000  tons  of  silver,  and  these  combined  form 
the  standard  for  all  nations.  The  silver  and  gold  are 
about  of  equal  value  in  the  ratio  of  16  to  1 ;  5  billion 
dollars  silver  and  5  billions  of  gold,  and  therefore  the 
base  is  half  silver  and  half  gold,  the  portions  being 
of  equal  length,  but  the  silver  part  is  16  times  heavier 
than  the  gold  part.  The  silver  dollar,  412.0  grains, 
taken  from  the  silver  part,  was  aboutone  ten-billionth 
part  of  the  value  of  the  whole  base,  and  the  gold  dol- 
lar, 25.8  grains,  taken  from  the  gold  part,  was  also 
about  the  one  ten-billionth  part;  so  that  the  dollar, 
gold  or  silver,  was  about  the  one  ten-billionth  part  of 
the  metallic  base. 

But  in  theyear  1873  the  silver  portion  of  the  stand- 
ard was  taken  away.  Silver  was  no  longer  a  measure 
of  values  but  was  itself  to  be  measured  as  any  other 
commodity.  A  silver  dollar  became  merely  a  medium 
of  exchange  like  a  paper  dollar.  It  still  contained  412.5 
grains  silver,  but  it  was  not  the  silver  that  made  it  a 
dollar  but  the  stamp  upon  it,  and  the  declaration  of 
the  government  that  it  shall  be  exchangeable  for  a 
real  dollar  of  25.8  grains  of  gold.  The  paper  dollar  is 
convertible  into  gold  and  is  just  as  valuable  for  that 
purpose.  Gold  alone  was  made  the  standard  or  pen- 
dulum base.  It  must  still  be  a  seconds  pendulum,  it 
inust  do  the  same  work.  The  gold  then  is  drawn  out 
through  the  space  formerly"  occupied  by  silver,  which 
was  the  one-half.  Gold,  therefore,  is  drawn  out  to 
twice  its  former  length  and  forms  the  whole,  now 
slender,  pendulum  rod. 

The  amount  of  gold,  25.8  grains,  in  a  dollar  re- 
mains the  same,  but  the  one  ten-billionth  part  is  only 
12.9  grains.     The  unit  of  value,  therefore,  now  is  the 


CHANGE  OF  UNIT.  37 

two  ten-billiontli  part  of  the  base.  All  the  gold  of 
the  world  is  about  8,000  tons,  and  25.8  is  about  the 
two  ten-billionth  part.  The  result  is  the  same  as 
doubling  the  amount  of  metal  in  the  old  unit.  The 
two  ten-billionth  part  of  the  old  standard  would  be 
825  grains  silver  or  51.6  grains  gold.  There  is  no 
escape  from  the  conclusion  that  the  unit  has  been 
changed  in  the  one  case  as  much  as  it  w^ould  have 
been  in  the  other. 

Again  we  present  this  in  a  slightU'  different  form. 
Call  the  gold  in  the  world  8,000  tons— and  that 
is  near  the  amount  —  and  draw  out  this  gold  into  a 
wire  10  billion  inches  long,  then  the  dollar,  25.8 
grains,  would  be  two  inches  of  this  wire.  Call  the 
silver  of  the  world  130,000  tons  —  and  that  is  near  the 
amount — and  draw  this  silver  into  a  wire  10  billion 
inches  long,  then  one  dollar,  il2.5  grains,  will  be  two 
inches  of  this  wire.  But  these  two  metals  together 
have  been  the  base  of  values,  so  w^e  twine  these 
two  wires  together  into  one  of  both  metals  10  bill- 
ion inches  long.  Now  \ve  can  see  that  one  inch 
of  this  wire,  the  one  ten-billionth  part  of  the  whole 
combined  base,  is  a  dollar,  half  silver  and  half  gold, 
12.9  grains  gold  and  206.25  grains  silver.  This  has 
been  the  unit  b^'  which  all  our  properties  have  been 
appraised.  A  farm  worth  $10,000  was  worth  10.000 
inches  of  this  wire  or  base.  A  bushel  of  wheat  worth 
a  dollar  was  worth  one  inch  of  this  wire,  that  is,  the 
one  ten-billionth  part  of  the  whole  metallic  standard. 

In  1873  the  silver  portion  was  taken  away  and  the 
gold  remained  alone,  but  the  amcfunt  of  gold  in  the 
dollar  remained  25.8  grains,  so  that  it  now  requires 
two  inchesof  that  wire  to  make  a  dollar,  the  two  ten- 


389225 


38  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

billionth  portion  of  the  whole  former  metallic  base, 
just  twice  the  length  of  the  old  unit. 

The  dollar  unit  now  being  gold,  by  the  enactment 
of  the  government,  reaches  twice  as  far  as  the  old 
unit  did,  and  in  the  measurement  of  properties  it 
covers  twice  as  much  as  it  did  before.  The  farm  is 
measured  by  the  10,000  inches  of  the  base  unit,  but 
it  now  takes  two  inches  to  make  a  dollar,  so  that  the 
farm  is  now  valued  at  only  $5,000,  and  by  this  new 
standard  and  unit  is  all  that  it  can  be  appraised.  The 
bushel  of  wheat  is  worth  the  inch  of  wire,  the  one 
ten-billionth  part  of  the  base,  but  it  now  takes  two 
inches,  the  two  ten-billionth  parts,  to  make  a  dollar. 

If  a  change  were  to  be  made  to  a  single  gold  base, 
then  the  dollar  should  have  been  made  12.9  grains 
gold.  That  would  have  held  the  unit  at  the  old 
length,  the  one  ten-billionth  part. 

If  this  unit  upon  this  new  base  had  been  called 
by  a  new  name,  the  embarrassments  that  have  fol- 
lowed would  have  been  avoided.  It  might  have  been 
called  Gold  an,  a  contraction  of  gold-unit,  with  the  o 
short  or  long,  as  seemed  most  euphonious. 

Then  all  debts  and  obligations  of  every  kind 
previously  contracted  could  have  been  fulfilled  hon- 
estly as  intended,  and  ne>v  business  and  new  obliga- 
tions could  have  recognized  and  named  the  new  unit 
the  Gold  an. 

But  the  name  only  remained  the  same,  the  thing 
itself  was  changed,  and  the  injustice  perpetrated,  of 
compelling  all  obligations  to  recognize  the  new  unit 
and  submit  because  it  bore  the  old  name. 

Solon  was  wise  and  patriotic.  His  name  is  a 
synonym  for  unselfish  devotion  to  the  public  good. 
He  ^vas  given  authority  in  Greece  when  times  there 


CHANGE  OF  UNIT.  39 

"were  much  as  they  are  here  now.  The  great  evil 
was  debt.  The  people  were  not  able  to  pay  their 
taxes,  and  the  revenues  for  the  government  were 
-wanting.  Their  private  debts  -were  increasing. 
Mortgage  stones  were  erected  at  the  borders  of  each 
tract  of  land,  giving  the  name  of  the  creditor  and 
the  amount  of  his  claim.  The  interest  could  not  be 
paid  and  the  debts  were  increasing.  The  farmer 
lost  all  hope  and  was  only  a  laborer  on  the  farm  he 
once  owned.  The  debtor  who  had  no  farm  to  work 
for  his  creditor,  -was  j^et  in  a  worse  condition  ;  he 
was  the  mere  slave  of  his  creditor  and  could  be  sold 
by  him.  The  free  farmers  w^ere  fast  disappearing. 
The  most  of  them  worked  hard,  struggling  with 
miserable  poverty.  The  amount  of  silver  was  lim- 
ited and  no  additions  were  being  made  to  it  from  the 
mines.  Solon  at  once  came  to  the  relief  of  this  suf- 
fering class.  He  reduced  the  size  of  the  drachma, 
the  common  silver  coin,  nearly  one-third,  making  it 
possible  for  the  debtors  to  meet  their  obligations. 
He  released  those  who  were  enslaved  and  brought 
back  those  who  had  been  sold  abroad.  The  great 
work  of  Solon  was   for  this  debtor  class,  which  has 

caused  his  name  to  be  revered  by  all  -who  have 
studied  the  history  of  his  times.  The  modern  law- 
makers should  learn  from  his  example,  so  far  at 
least  as  to  permit  the  debtor  to  meet  his  creditor 
with  the  same  kind  of  coin  and  the  same  weight  as 
that  in  which  the  debt  was  contracted.  That  would 
be  the  "  honest  money."  To  compel  the  debtor  to 
pay  his  debts  with  a  coin  of  another  metal  and  equal 
to  tw^o  silver  dollars  when  he  agreed  to  pay  but  one, 
is  public  robbery  of  the  helpless,  and  Avorthy  only  of 
Lj'sander's  "Thirty  Tyrants,"  Theromenes,  Critias, 
and  the  rest,  who  usurped  the  power,  and  plotted 
the  enslavement  of  Athens. 


40  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 


EFFECT  ON  PROPERTY. 

ARTICLE    IV. 

Daniel  Webster  said  :  "  Gold  and  silver,  at  rates 
fixed  b}'  Congress,  constitute  the  legal  standard  of 
value  in  this  countr^^  and  neither  Congress  nor  any- 
State  has  authorit}'  to  establish  any  other  standard 
or  to  displace  that  standard." 

The  Hon.  James  G.  Blaine,  quoting  this  utterance, 
adds:  "  On  the  much-vexed  and  long-mooted  ques- 
tion as  to  a  bimetallic  or  monometallic  standard  mv 
own  views  are  sufficiently  indicated  in  the  remarks 
1  have  made.  I  believe  the  struggle  now  going  on 
in  this  country'  and  in  the  other  countries  for  a  sin- 
gle gold  standard  would,  if  successful,  produce  wide- 
spread disaster  in  and  throughout  the  commercial 
world.  The  destruction  of  silver  as  money  and 
establishing  gold  as  the  sole  unit  of  value  must 
have  a  ruinous  effect  on  all  forms  of  property  except 
those  investments  which  yield  a  fixed  return  in 
nione^'.  These  would  be  enormousl3"  enhanced  in 
value  and  would  gain  a  disproportionate  and  unfair 
advantage  over  every  other  species  of  property.  If, 
as  the  most  reliable  statistics  affirm,  there  are 
nearly  $7,00;J,000,000  of  coin  or  bullion  in  the  world, 
ver}'  equally  divided  between  gold  and  silver,  it  is 
impossible  to  strike  silver  out  of  existence  as  money 
without  results  which  will  prove  distressing  to 
millions  and  utterly  disastrous  to  tens  of  thousands." 

Prices  are  not  regulated  by  mone^"  as  currency 
but    b}'    mone^"   as   a    measure  of  value,    sometimes 


EFFKCT  ON  PROPERTY.  41 

called  the  money  of  ultimate  redemption.  So  far 
as  our  nation  is  concerned  there  is  no  such 
money  now  except  gold.  The  silver  half  that 
^vas  redemption  money  is  discarded.  This  doubles, 
as  we  have  demonstrated,  the  value  of  the  unit, 
the  dollar,  and  therefore  it  follows  as  a  corrol- 
lary  that  this  has  doubled  notes,  mortgages, 
bonds,  taxes,  fees,  salaries,  railroad  fares  and  freights, 
and  all  obligations  expressed  in  money.  It  takes 
twice  the  property  that  it  did  formerlj'  to  pay  them. 

The  foundation  under  3^our  house  is  half  brick 
and  half  stone  ;  you  take  away  entirel}'  the  stone 
part,  and  bring  no  new  material,  but  the  l^rick  por- 
tion you  level  down  under  the  building  for  it  to  rest 
upon.  It  can  be  plainly  seen  that  the  house  is  raised 
only  half  the  height  of  the  former  wall.  The  base 
upon  which  all  our  properties  rested  was  half  sil- 
ver and  half  gold  ;  when  the  silver  is  taken  away  and 
the  gold  thinned  or  leveled  out  under  it  all,  it  is 
readily  seen  how  properties  settled  to  half  their 
former  prices. 

Gold  thus  measures  twice  the  amount  of  prop- 
erty it  formerly  did,  and  because  all  mone3^  is  now 
gold  by  the  determination  of  the  government,  all 
money  doubles  its  demands  upon  property.  The 
mortgage  under  half  a  farm  fortnerly,  now  spread 
out  takes  the  whole  farm.  The  house  and  home 
half  paid  for  is  taken  b}^  the  claim  now  spread  out 
under  it  all. 

The  debtor  now  has  no  option,  but  must  ineet  his 
creditor  with  gold  dollars  (or  golduns),  that  are 
twice  as  long  as  when  there  was  a  base  of  both  gold 
and  silver.  This  has  so  greatly  enhanced  money 
that  property  in  comparison  seems  worthless.    Prop- 


CO 


1873. 

Guest.  This  is  a  fine  home  you  have.  May  I  ask  how  much  such  a 
place  is  worth  here? 

Host.  I  have  just  paid  $10,000  for  that  property.  We  like  it  verj- 
much. 

Guest.    What  are  those  fellows  doing  ? 

Host.  My  dear  sir,  those  are  not  common  fellows;  those  are  finan- 
ciers, experts,  who  are  putting  it  on  a  new  base  of  value.  The  whole 
foundation  will  be  of  gold.  That  is  English,  you  know.  All  the  houses 
in  England  rest  on  a  gold  base. 

Guest.    Did  you  ever !    Well !    Well ! 

1894. 

Guest,  is  this  the  home  you  were  putting  on  an  English  or  gold 
foundation?    What  has  happened?    Hasn't  it  sunk  into  the  ground  ? 

Host.    Yes.    It  has  gone  into  tlie  dirt. 

Guest.    How  much  is  it  worth  now,  in  that  shape? 

Host.  Worth!  It's  cheap,  dirt  cheap,  dirt  cheap  !  I  have  paid  $8,000 
and  I  will  give  it  up  to  Shylock  to-day  for  the  $2,000  balance  on  the 
mortgage  he  holds.    No  more  English  in  my  dish. 


44  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

erty  is  depressed  because  measured  b3^  this  larger 
unit  of  value.  If  the  farm  of  a  quarter  section,  160 
acres,  is  tneasured  b3^  a  doubled  standard  of  exten- 
sion, the  2-39.1012  of  a  seconds  pendulum,  it  will 
make  the  rod  twice  the  former  length,  and  each 
side  of  the  fartn  will  measure  but  eight}^  rods  and 
the  whole  farm  will  contain  but  forty  of  the  new 
acres,  only  one-fourth  as  man^''.  So  the  farm  which 
w^as  formerly  $80  per  acre  actuall}^  sells  under  the 
hammer  for  $20  (or  goldans),  one-fourth  the  former 
price,  if  it  sells  for  cash,  or  can  be  sold  at  all. 
This  is  in  truth  the  condition  in  Northern  Ohio 
and  possibh"  the  condition  is  no  better  in  other  parts  of 
the  countr}".  The  sales  made  are  mostly  in  adjust- 
ment of  old  claims,  and  no  monej'  is  actually  paid 
over.  Mortgages  are  foreclosed.  The  first  mort- 
gage takes  the  property,  the  second  mortgage  is 
worthless. 

There  are  conditions  that  seem  to  make  this 
doubling  of  money  peculiarly  severe  on  the  farm- 
ing class  who  may  be  in  debt.  Most  fanners 
are  more  or  less  in  debt.  Young  farmers  owe  on  the 
farms  they  have  purchased  for  themselves,  and  older 
men  have  used  their  credit  to  help  their  children  or 
to  assist  their  neighbors  when  these  times  began  to 
pinch,  but  debts  have  not  been  paid  and  their  credit 
is  failing.  When  property  was  rising  a  farm  was 
good  security  for  one-half  or  three-fourths  its  value, 
as  the  distance  between  indebtedness  and  full  value 
was  always  growing  greater,  but  on  a  falling  market 
the  farm  will  be  taken  as  security  for  onl}^  a  tithe 
of  its  appraisement  ;  for  the  value  sinking,  and  the 
debt  increasing,  approach  each  other  rapidl3^  The 
farm  on  which  was  a  trifling  mortgage   a   few  years 


EFFECT  ON  PROPERTY.  45 

ago  is  now^  in  danger  of  going  upon  the  market  for 
that  small  amount.  Money  is  said  to  be  plenty  in 
the  banks,  and  is,  but  it  takes  at  least  three  times  as 
much  farm  property  to  secure  it.  By  this  change 
their  realty  is  neither  salable  nor  good  security. 

The  farmers'  products  have  also  decreased  in  price 
while  certain  expenses  remain.  Lands  are  assessed 
for  a  period  of  ten  years  and  there  will  be  no  reduc- 
tion, in  this  State,  before  1900,  although  they  have 
depreciated.  Other  property,  assessed  annually,  is 
appraised  at  the  present  "worth.  Their  taxes,  there- 
fore, are  proportionately^  greatly  increased  ;  also  the 
personal  property  being  much  less,  the  assessment 
must  be  higher,  and  the  burden  comes  upon  the  land. 
The  taxes,  too,  mtist  be  paid  in  cash  and  they  rec^uire 
twice  to  three  times  the  amount  of  farm  produce 
formerly  required  to  meet  them. 

The  freights  have  not  been  changed  to  meet  the 
depression  of  prices.  The  freight  on  wheat  to 
market  from  the  home  village  of  the  w^riter  to  the 
city  he  frequents,  is  the  same  that  it  was  twenty 
years  ago,  about  five  cents  per  bushel.  Then, 
when  wheat  was  $1.25  this  was  but  four  per  cent,  on 
the  price,  now  that  wheat  is  forty-five  cents  this  is 
a  little  over  eleven  per  cent.,  nearly  three  times  the 
per  cent,  of  the  former  charge.  When  the  farmer 
received  $1.25  for  a  bushel  he  paid  only  four  per 
cent.,  now  when  he  receives  but  forty-five  cents  he 
must  pay  eleven  percent,  of  his  money  to  the  railroad 
company  for  freight.  At  points  more  remote  from 
market  the  freight  charges  rise  to  fifty  and  sevent3^- 
five  per  cent,  of  the  amount  received. 

The  fare  from  the  village  to  the  city  and  return 
has  always  been  one  dollar.      Twenty  years  ago  the 


46  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

farmer  could  make  a  trip  to  the  city  and  return,  and 
a  twenty-five  cent  dinner  added,  for  one  bushel  of 
wheat.  Now  it  takes  two  bushels  of  w^heat  plus  ten 
cents,  and  no  dinner.  Cotton  farming  is  no  better. 
Twenty  j'^ears  ago  the  planter  took  a  bale  of  cotton 
to  market  and  brought  home  one  hundred  dollars, 
now^  he  must  take  three  bales  if  he  expects  so  much 
money.  Wool  has  left  the  farmer's  hands  at  prices 
equally  low. 

Horses,  cattle,  sheep  and  live  stock  of  every  kind 
have  become  cheap  beyond  all  precedent.  There 
may  be  exceptional  varieties  of  stock  that  have  been 
salable,  and  there  maj^  be  some  variation  in  the 
price  of  cereals  owing  to  causes  which  are  not  fore- 
seen and  cannot  be  controlled.  Corn  is  a  failure 
this  year,  1894,  because  of  the  drouth  throughout  the 
whole  corn  belt  that  has  seldom  been  equaled  in  ex- 
tent and   severity. 

The  farmer,  who  has  worked  diligently  since  1873, 
and  has  been  thrifty  and  kept  himself  free  from 
debt,  and  has  been  accumulating  propert}'  every 
year,  is  worth  less  now^  than  then.  After  years  of 
diligent  industry  and  successful  toil  there  has  been 
no  gain.  All  his  property  appraised  and  sold  to-day 
would  not  realize  as  much  money  as  twenty  years 
ago.  The  depreciation  of  value  has  been  greater 
than  the  accretion  of  property. 

The  average  size  of  a  farm  in  the  United  States': 

1870 153  acres 

1880 133  acres 

1890 107  acres 

Average  value  per  acre  : 

1870 $59  00 

1880 46  00 

1890-. 28  00 


EFFECT  ON  PROPERTY.  47 

The  average  value  of  each  farm  : 

1870 $3,430  00 

1880 2,428  00 

1890 1,630  (X) 

The  value  in  1894  is  at  least  twenty-five  per  cent, 
less  than  in  1890. 

The  value  of  the  farm  is  the  farmer's  capital  and 
from  it  he  receives  his  income  just  as  truly  as  bank 
stock  is  the  capital  of  the  banker  from  which  he 
receives  his  interest.  The  depreciation  of  the  value 
of  the  farm  is  just  as  great  a  loss  as  would  be  the 
dwindling  away  of  the  bank  stock.  The  depreciation 
of  land  destroys  the  farmer's  credit  and  the  deprecia- 
tion of  produce  destroys  his  income.  If  a  capitalist 
had  ten  thousand  dollars  of  stock  in  bonds  and 
mortgages  on  which  he  drew  his  interest,  and  found 
that  in  some  mysterious  way  that  capital  was 
decreasing  year  by  year  and  his  interest  growing 
less  and  less,  it  would  arouse  the  suspicion  that 
there  was  wrong  somewhere  and  fraud,  and  there 
would  be  no  rest  until  the  fault  was  discovered  and 
the  perpetrators  who  were  accountable  placed 
behind  the  bars.  This  depreciation  of  capital  in 
realty  has  been  produced  by  the  manipulations  of 
those  who  profited  by  it  and  though  under  the  cover 
of  law  has  the  same  moral  turpitude  as  if  the  capi- 
tal had  been  taken  from  the  vaults  at  night.  This 
depreciation  of  farm  property  has  been  felt  first, 
but  must  be  followed  closely  by  the  depreciation  of 
real  estate  in  the  cities.  There  is  a  depression  of 
rents  of  dwellings  that  is  irresistible.  Business 
houses  cannot  continue  their  leases  when  their 
incomes  have  been  decreased  the  half.  Mortgaged 
properties  will  not  rent  for  enough  to  keep  them  in 


NO    DINNER. 


Farmer.  I  sell  my  finished  wool  in  a  free  market  and  buy  my 
goods  in  a  protected  market.  I  sell  my  wheat  for  45  cents,  but  the 
railroad  which  was  given  the  right  of  "eminent  domain"  across  my 
farm  has  made  no  reduction  in  rates  for  carrying  it  to  market.  It  takes 
more  than  twice  the  former  amount  of  produce  to  pay  my  fare  when  I 
travel.  As  property  is  reduced  it  should  not  be  over  one  cent  per 
mile,  yet  the  Legislature  would  not  come  to  nij'  relief.  When  I  go  to 
town,  they  charge  me  one-half  bushel  of  wheat  for  a  plain  dinner,  and 
for  a  good  dinner  one  bushel  and  a  half.  I  am  getting  poorer  every 
year.  My  farm  is  not  worth  one-third  as  much  as  it  was  twenty  years 
ago.    I  am  discouraged;  would  not  you  be? 


'  111  fares  the  land,  to  hastening  ills  a  prey, 
Where  wealth  acciiuiulates,  and  men  decay  : 
Princes  and  lords  may  flourish  or  may  fade  ; 
A  breath  can  make  them  as  a  breath  has  made  ; 
But  a  bold  peasantry,  their  country's  pride, 
When  once  destroyed  can  never  be  supplied." 

—  (Deserted  Village.) 


50  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

repair,  pay  all  cit3^  taxes  and  insurance  and  the 
interest  on  the  loan,  and  they  must  come  upon  the 
market.  The  collapse  in  the  values  of  city  property 
cannot  fail  to  be  as  complete  as  that  of  farms. 
Manufacturing  plants  also  sink  in  value.  Those 
which  stand  nearest  the  agricultural  class  feel  the 
depression  first,  but  there  is  no  escape  for  any  prop- 
erty erected  to  meet  the  demands  of  any  class  at 
former  prices.  Money  each  3^ear  buj^s  more  property 
than  it  did  the  year  before.  Property  each  year  sells 
for  less  than  the  year  preceding. 

The  appraisement  in  the  cities  is  greatly 
decreased  and  yet  most  of  the  municipalities  are 
alread}^  taxed  near  the  maximum  permitted  by  law. 
If  the  amount  of  property  appears  on  the  assessors' 
books  like  the  actual  decrease  in  selling  price,  there 
will  be  a  deficienc}^  in  the  revenues  which  support  the 
school,  police,  fire  department  and  street  lights,  and 
which  pay  the  bonds  and  other  expenses  that  must 
be  met.  This  trouble  is  already  upon  some  of  our 
cities. 

The  current  expenses  of  railroads  must  be  met 
and  the  interest  on  their  bonds  must  be  paid 
when  due,  so  that  neither  fares  nor  freights  can  be 
lowered,  nor  the  amount  of  traffic  decreased,  without 
their  ruin.  The3''  cannot  prevent  the  decrease  of 
traffic.  It  is  this  that  has  now  driven  so  large  a 
portion  of  the  railroad  companies  into  the  hands  of 
receivers  ;  43,000  miles  are  in  receivers'  hands  no'w. 
Last  month,  Jul^'^  1894,  their  receipts  were  twenty-six 
per  cent,  less  than  July  1893.  Thej- are  now  receiv- 
ing an  enormous  percent,  of  the  value  of  the  prop- 
erties they  transport,  but  the  traffic  has  decreased  so 


EFFECT  OX  PROPERTY.  51 

that  even  this  cannot  save  from  the  courts  thousands 
of  miles  more. 

There  is  no  encouragement  to  bu}'  an3'thing 
-when  the  indications  are  that  in  a  year  it  can  be 
bought  for  less  than  is  now  asked  for  it.  Why  buy 
a  farm  now  when  10  per  cent,  possibly  can  be  saved 
by  waiting  another  3'ear?  There  is  no  safe  basis  for 
the  estimate  of  the  income  of  a  farm  when  the 
prices  are  continually'  dropping.  Manufacturing 
properties  are  no  safer.  The  agricultural  machines 
may  be  piled  up  w^aiting  for  the  farmers  to  come  to 
bu3^  The  fartners  have  no  mone}'  and  do  not  come. 
The  woolen  goods  and  the  cotton  goods  and  the 
leather  goods  are  piled  up  waiting  for  the  uncovered 
and  cold  and  unshod.  The  goods  are  needed  but  there 
is  no  money.  The  mone3^has  been  drained  away  from 
the  people  utterly,  as  they  have  made  their  honest 
efforts  to  meet  their  doubled  obligations  until  now 
they  are  exhausted.  The}^  are  impoverished  and 
are  too  poor  to  buy.  They  are  wearing  shoes  that 
■^^ould  formerl}'  be  called  worn  out,  and  clothes 
that  are   faded  and  threadbare  and  patched. 

The  Hebrews  marched  for  ^^ears  through  the 
wilderness  wearing  their  old  clothes  and  sandals 
because  they  could  not  be  renewed,  and  in  some 
inysterious  wa^^  the}"  did  not  wear  out.  So  now  from 
very  necessity  the  old  clothes  and  shoes  are  contin- 
ued and  wear  marvelously,  but  the  manufacturer, 
with  his  great  stock  of  goods,  is  ruined.  No  one 
will  buy  or  invest  in  any  property  when  the  income 
from  it  is  so  certain  to  fail.  Middlemen,  merchants, 
grocers  and  dealers  of  all  kinds  have  reduced  their 
stocks  and  buy  only  what  is  necessary  for  immediate 
trade. 


52  THKSE  HARD  TIMES. 

There  is  no  encouragement  to  improve  proper- 
ties when  with  the  improvements  they  will  be 
worth  less  than  before.  This  stops  building,  drain- 
age of  lands,  improvement  of  stock  and  all  pro- 
gress in  property  of  any  kind.  The  factories  are 
mosth^  carrA'ing  a  heav}^  indebtedness  which  is 
increasing  while  thej'^  are  idle,  waiting  for  customers. 
The}'  must  sell  before  the}'  can  buy  more  raw 
material.  There  can  be  no  enlargement,  no 
advance  in  any  line.  There  can  only  be  continued 
contraction  and  business  decay. 

The  condition  is  gloomy  in  the  extreme.  The 
depreciation  of  propert}'  has  been  ten  times  as 
much  as  the  national  debt  at  the  close  of  the  war  in 
1865.  The  debt  was  then  about  $2,800,000,000,  but 
by  this  change  of  unit  our  boasted  estimated  valua- 
tion of  $70,000,000,000  is  reduced  in  debt-paying 
power  more  than  $28,000,000,000.  The  debt-paying 
power  of  ever}'  holder  of  property  has  decreased 
one-half.  The  present  reduced  pul)lic  debt,  on  the 
present  gold  basis,  is  harder  to  meet  than  the  whole 
debt  on  the  old  basis.  We  were  paying  off  the  debt 
rapidl}^,  but  now  we  are  not  meeting  our  current 
expenses,  falling  behind  the  last  six  months  sevent}'- 
tive  millions.  We  have  paid  as  interest  of  public 
debt  $2,538,000,000.  We  paid  on  the  principal  $1,700,- 
000,000,  and  now  $1,071,000,000  remains;  yet  this  has 
been  made  to  so  increase  its  demands  upon  property 
that  it  is  more  of  a  burden  than  the  whole  debt  when 
incurred. 


EFFECT  ON  PROPERTY. 


53 


TABLE    SHOWING    THE    INCREASE  IN  THE  NATIONAL   DEBT  IF  PAID  IN 

FARM  PRODUCTS. 

Debt  in  1866,  $2,783,000,000.         Debt  in  1894,  $1,071,979,527. 


Products  necessary  to 
pay  the  debt,  as  per 
prices  at  that  time. 

Aniouiit 
1866. 

Amount 

1894. 

Sliowing 

actual 
increase. 

Beef — barrels 

Pork— barrels 

Wheat— bushels 

Oats— bushels 

Corn — bushels 

Cotton— pounds,  1867- 

Coal — tons 

Bar-iron— tons 

129,000,0(JO 
87,000,000 

i,oo7,ock:),ooo 

3,262,350,000 

2,218,000,000 

7,092,000,000 

213,307,000 

24,110,000 

178.663,254 

107,197,952 

2.143,959,014 

4,287,918,028 

3,970,294,174 

15,312,993,242 

267,994,881 

26,145,842 

49,663,254 

20,197,952 

1,136,959,014 

1,025„568,028 

1,652,294.174 

8,221,993,242 

54.687,881 

2,035,842 

Though  we  have  paid  the  enormous  amount  of 
$4:,238,0C0,000,  interest  and  principal,  yet  now  it  has 
been  so  manipulated  that  it  will  take  more  bushels 
of  corn,  or  pounds  of  cotton,  or  barrels  of  pork,  or 
tons  of  iron  to  pa^^  the  balance  of  the  public  debt, 
$1,071,000,000,  than  it  would  have  taken  to  pa}-  the 
whole  debt  in  1866. 

This  condition  of  the  public  debt  is  only  parallel 
with  that  of  private  parties  all  over  the  land.  There 
are  many  who  have  been  paying  interest  for  3'ears 
promptly,  and  have  also  greatly  reduced  the  princi- 
pal, who  now  find  that  they  owe  more  than  ever 
when  that  debt  is  measured  by  anj^  staple  product 
with  which  they  had  hoped  to  pay.  The  result  has 
been  the  distress  of  the  most  honorable  and  upright 
and  also  the  embarrassment  of  others  who  only 
sought  to  be  helpful  by  lending  their  credit.  No 
pen  can  adequately  picture  nor  mind  conceive 
the  fearful  trials  that  have  been  experienced  in 
the  financial  strain  of  these  3-ears  of  continued 
depression. 

This  change  of  the  unit  and  the  decrease  of  prop- 
erty and  the  increase  of  debts,    public  and  private. 


Siiv.    "  There  is  some  ill  a  brewing  towards  my  rest, 
For  I  did  dream  of  money  bags  to-night." 

Ant.    "  Hear  me  yet,  good  Shylock." 

Shy.    "  I'll  have  my  bond  ;  speak  not  against  my  bond  ; 

I  have  sworn  on  oath,  that  I  will  have  my  bond."    *    *    * 

Ant.    "  I  praj-  thee  hear  me  speak." 

Shy.    "  I'll  have  my  bond  ;  I  will  not  hear  thee  speak  ; 
I'll  have  my  bond,  and  therefore  speak  no  more. 
I'll  not  be  made  a  soft  and  dull  ej-ed  fool. 
To  shake  the  head,  relent,  and  sigh  and  j'ield 
To  Christian  intercessors.    Follow  not  : 
I'll  have  no  speaking  :     I  will  have  m3'  bond." 

—  {Merchant  of  I'ewice.) 
"The  old  man  took  the  blow,  but  did  not  fall,— 
Its  weight  had  been  before.    The  land  was  sold, 
The  mortgage  closed." 

— J.J.  Pi  fit  t. 


56  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

has  caused  more  restless  nights,  and  the  loss  of  more 
sleep;  it  has  caused  more  sorrow  and  tears;  it  has 
caused  more  alienation  among  kindred  and  the  sep- 
aration of  friends;  more  bitterness  of  feeling  and 
more  misery  and  more  woe,  than  the  ^var  of  the  revo- 
lution and  all  the  conflicts  since,  including  the  four 
3^ears  of  bloody  strife  between  1861  and  1865. 

Thousands  of  the  honest  and  frugal  have  been 
stripped  of  the  accumulations  of  years  and  ruined, 
and  thousands  more  are  in  jeopardy  and  cannot 
escape  if  the  old  unit  is  not  restored.  There  never 
was  a  time  before  when  debtors  were  so  anxious  to 
pa}^  on  the  very  terms  they  agreed  to  pay,  and  are 
not  permitted,  but  must  face  utter  ruin  because  by 
arbitrary  enactment  their  debts  have  been  doubled. 
It  is  hinted  that  there  is  in  the  world  a  den  of 
Sh34ocks,  in  this  3'ear  of  grace,  who  planned  and 
accomplished  this,  and  who  now,  as  they  sit  among 
their  gold,  are  grinning  at  the  wretchedness  and  woe 
their  greed  has  caused. 


EXCHANGE.  57 


EXCHANGE. 

ARTICLE    V. 

Exchange  is  parting  with  those  things  we  can 
spare  for  those  we  need.  In  a  savage  state  each 
consumes  what  he  himself  produces.  Among  civil- 
ized people  money  as  a  medium  of  exchange  is  abso- 
lutely necessar3%  and  the  higher  the  civilization 
rises,  and  the  more  widely  it  is  extended,  the  greater 
is  the  amount  required.  In  a  j^rimitive  state  of  civil- 
ized life  the  producer  and  consumer  are  close  to- 
gether ;  indeed  this  separation,  b}'^  division  of  labor, 
has  largely  grown  within  two  generations.  For- 
merly, when  the  farmer  sold  his  produce  to  the  general 
merchant,  he  bought  from  him  coffee,  sugar,  calico, 
cloth  and  hardware.  The  money  he  received  was  a 
small  amount,  it  was  only  the  balance  remaining 
after  his  wants  were  supplied  ;  and  when  the  laborer 
sold  his  services,  usually  to  the  farmer,  he  received 
from  the  farm  nearly  all  that  he  consumed  in  his 
home  ;  the  amount  of  cash  he  received  was  trifling. 

Now  the  produce,  as  wheat,  is  sold  to  a  miller 
w^ho  pays  the  whole  amount  in  cash,  which  is  carried 
to  and  distributed  among  the  various  merchants 
and  tradesmen,  and  exchanged  for  shoes,  clothing, 
groceries  and  hardware  in  the  separate  shops  ;  and 
then  it  must  find  its  way  back  to  the  miller  in  ex- 
change for  his  flour. 

Labor  is  usuall3'  sold  now  in  a  city,  to  a  manu- 
facturer of  stoves,  or  harvesters,  or  matches,  or  pots, 
or  books,  who    sends    them    to    distant    states,    and 


s^^. 


>ww-    ^^ 


EARLY   OHIO. 

First  settlement  Marietta 17S8. 

Military  road  cut  through  by  Gen.  Wayne .1794. 

Territorial  Government  established 1790. 

Admitted  as  a  State 1803. 

No  finite  eye  then  looking  over  this  wilderness  could  foresee  the 
farms,  gardens,  towns  and  cities,  and  all  the  developed  resources  of 
this  commonwealth  to-daj% 


"  Is  it  possible  that  from  a  beginning  so  feeble,  so  frail,  so  worthj' 
not  so  mucli  of  admiration  as  of  pitj-, there  has  gone  forth  a  progress  so 
steady,  a  growth  so  wonderful,  an  expansion  so  ample,  a  reality  so 
important,  a  promise  yet  to  be  fulfilled  so  glorious?" 

—Edward  Everett. 

"  O  purer  years  of  light  and  grace  ! 
Great  is  the  difference,  as  the  space, 
'Twixt  you  and  us,  who  blindly  run 
After  false  fires,  and  leave  the  sun." 

—Henry  ^'aiighan. 


60  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

many  months  must  pass  before  they  reach  the  con- 
sumer and  the  cash  be  returned  to  the  manufacturer, 
when  the  laborer  receives  the  whole  atnount  of  his 
earnings  in  money,  which  must  be  distributed  by 
him,  and  find  its  way  through  an  infinite  number  of 
complicated  channels  to  the  producer  of  wheat,  and 
cotton,  and  wool,  and  hides.  With  our  modern  ap- 
pliances labor  produces  more  than  it  ever  did  before, 
but  also,  never  before  was  the  distance  between  pro- 
ducer and  consumer  so  great.  The  medium  of 
exchange,  carrying  these  representations  of  value 
all  the  long  distances  now  between  them,  should  be 
proportionate!}'  increased. 

In  the  earl}'  statehood  of  Ohio,  three-quarters  of 
a  century  ago,  the  grandfather  of  the  writer  was  for 
a  number  of  terms  the  representative  from  his  dis- 
trict. He  rode  to  Chillicothe,  then  the  capital,  about 
100  miles  on  his  own  horse.  He  wore  clothes  home- 
spun and  home-raised.  The  linen  grew  in  his  own 
fields  and  the  wool  on  the  backs  of  his  own  sheep, 
and  I  have  been  assured  that  ever}'  article  of  his 
clothing  was  transformed  from  the  "raw  material  to 
the  finished  product "  by  the  skilful  hands  of  his  own 
wife.  There  was  little  need  of  money  in  those 
primitive  times,  but  now,  all  is  changed  ;  the  wool 
is  sold  for  money,  and  must  pass  through  many 
hands,  and  be  transported  here  and  there,  long  dis- 
tances, before  it  comes  back  as  clothes,  to  reclaim 
the  cash  received  for  it. 

The  civilized  portion  of  our  country  is  rapidly 
widening,  reaching  out  over  territor}^  possessed  onl}' 
by  savages  a  few  3'ears  ago,  quickly  transforming 
marshes  into    metropolises.      The    most    marvelous 


EXCHANGE.  61 

exhibition  at  the  Columbian  Fair  was  the  contrast 
between  Chicago  1833  and  1893. 

Savage  nations  are  also  being  civilized  and  com- 
merce is  extended  where  there  was  no  possible  trade 
a  few  years  ago.  The  group  of  islands  in  the  Pacific 
that  attracted  the  attention  of  all  our  people  for 
many  months,  and  whose  commerce  is  now  regarded 
as  so  important,  were  inhabited  by  cannibals  at  the 
opening  of  this  century.  Christian  civilization  and 
commerce  have  been  traveling,  hand  in  hand,  round 
the  world,  extending  trade  and  producing  a  demand 
for  an  ever  increasing  medium  of  exchange.  The 
amount  demanded  in  the  world  to-day  is  incom- 
parably greater  than  were  the  needs  two  genera- 
tions ago. 

Money  in  exchange  is  the  medium  b}^  which  the 
value  of  articles  is  conveyed.  It  takes  the  place  of 
the  bags  which  conve3'ed  the  wheat,  of  the  crates 
which  contained  the  potatoes,  of  the  baskets  which 
carried  the  peaches,  and  the  wrapping  which  held 
the  cotton  or  the  wool.  The  farmer  in  the  market 
gives  his  wheat  and  receiv^es  its  value  in  vessels 
called  mone}^,  which  is  carried  to  the  clothier,  who 
receives  this  value  of  his  wheat  and  gives  in  ex- 
change the  needed  clothes.  This  money  which 
brought  the  value  of  the  farmer's  wheat  to  him,  now 
contains  the  value  of  the  clothes  with  which  he  has 
parted.  He  carries  the  value  of  his  clothes  to  the 
butcher  who  takes  this  value  of  his  clothes  and 
gives  him  his  meat  ;  the  money  now  conveys  the 
value  of  his  meat,  which  he  carries  to  the  miller,  and 
so  the  money  containing  the  value  of  the  article  with 
which  each  one  parted  is  carried   round   and  round. 

Col.  Irish,  who  was  chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Engrav- 


6]  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

ingand  Printing  when  he  died  and  under  whose  ad- 
ministration tlie  present  building  was  erected,  at 
one  time  sent  to  the  wife  of  the  writer  a  ten  dollar 
bill  wrapped  up  so  that  it  looked  like  a  picture,  cab- 
inet size  ;  this  was  accompanied  bj^  a  note,  to  be 
opened  first.  In  this  note  he  said  he  took  pleasure 
in  sending  her  an  excellent  likeness  of  our  late 
lamented  president,  which  he  would  be  pleased  to 
have  her  accept.  If  she  should  prefer  it  in  some 
other  form,  it  was  a  peculiarity  of  this  likeness  that 
it  would  change  instantly  at  the  will  of  the  holder 
into  an}'  form  desired  ;  that  this  was  the  peculiarity 
that  troubled  him  as  he  had  been  unal)le  to  decide 
what  would  please  her  best,  and  had  finall}'  decided 
to  send  it  in  this  form  and  let  her  change  it  into  anj' 
other  she  might  like  better. 

Money  is  a  peculiar  vessel  which  will  hold  and 
carry  the  value  of  anything.  You  pour  in  j^our 
wheat  and  take  it  to  the  merchant,  who  empties 
3'^our  wheat  and  fills  it  with  clothes,  he  carries  it  to 
the  dealer  in  any  article  needed  and  the  vessel  is 
instantly"  emptied  and  refilled. 

It  is  the  prerogative  of  the  government  alone  to 
tnake  these  vessels.  It  claims  and  exercises  the 
right  of  making  them  and  then  compels  us  to  carry 
the  values  in  them.  When  I  have  bought  your  wheat 
3^ou  must  take  its  value  w^hen  offered  in  these  gov- 
erninent  packages  ;  they  are  legal  tender. 

The  government  then  claiming  the  prerogative 
of  making  the  packages  that  convey  the  values  of 
all  the  articles  in  the  crates,  baskets,  boxes,  and  bags 
and  vessels  of  ever^^  kind  in  which  goods  can  be  car- 
ried should  furnish  a  sufficient  supply.  There  is  no 
more  danger  of  too  much  nione}'  than  there  is  of  the 


EXCHANGE.  63 

farmer  having  too  many  baskets,  or  bags,  or  crates. 
When  the  market  is  extended  and  the  goods,  as 
fruits,  are  conveyed  long  distances,  there  must  be 
more  baskets  than  when  merely  sold  day  by  day  at 
home. 

Many  think  more  money  is  needed  now; 
that  is  not  the  present  trouble.  There  is  plenty 
of  money  ;  these  packages  for  the  conveyance 
of  values  are  piled  up  b}'  the  million  ready  to  be 
used,  but  there  is  no  demand  for  them.  When  the 
farmer  has  his  sheds  full  of  baskets  or  crates  he 
is  not  using,  he  is  not  foolish  enough  to  make 
more.  It  usually  indicates  that  there  has  been  a 
crop  failure  and  therefore  not  so  many  are  needed. 
There  has  been  no  failure  of  any  kind.  Harvests 
are  abundant  and  all  our  property  is  here  and 
ready  to  move,  and  is  moving,  and  yet  these  mill- 
ions of  money  remain  unused. 

The  call  for  more  money  is  not  well  taken.  It  is 
as  untimel}^  as  to  ask  for  more  crates  when  the  l)arn 
is  full  of  empties.  One-third  of  the  currency  is 
piled  up  idle* in  the  banks. 

There  are  those  who  point  to  the  large  bank 
reserves  as  evidence  of  the  solid  condition  of 
business  and  a  proof  that  we  are  prospering,  not- 
withstanding the  complaint  everywhere  of  hard 
times.  Mone}"  is  never  made  to  be  piled  up  in 
banks,  any  more  than  sap  pails  are  made  to  he 
piled  up  in  the  sugar  house.  When  3'ou  find  the 
pails  all  piled  up  snug  and  dry  you  know  you  are  too 
early  or  too  late  to  get  a  taste  of  sweet  in  that  bush. 
Sacks  are  of  no  use  when  neatly  folded  and  laid 
away  in  the  farmer's  granary.  The  baskets  and 
crates  are  idle  and  are  stowed  away  carefully  when 


The  old  measures  of  values  have  been  so  enlarged,  that  those  who 
borrowed  under  the  old  measures  and  must  repay  with  the  new  are 
ruined. 

This  is  an  old  Hebrew  trick,  played  as  early  as  800  j'ears  B.  C. 

"  Hear  this.  O  ye  that  swallow  up  the  needy,  even  to  make  the  poor 
of  the  land  to  fail. 

Saying,  when  will  the  new  moon  l)e  gone,  that  we  may  sell  corn? 
and  the  Sabbath  that  we  may  set  forth  wheat,  making  the  ephah 
small  and  the  shekel  (dollar)  great,  and  falsifying  the  balances  with 
deceit? 

That  w^e  may  buy  the  poor  for  silver  (gold),  and  the  needy  for  a 
pair  of  shoes,  yea  and  sell  the  refuse  of  the  wheat  ? 

The  Lord  hath  sworn  by  the  excellency  of  Jacob,  surely  I  will  never 
forget  any  of  their  works. 

Shall  not  the  land  trenij,)le  for  this  and  every  one  mourn  that  dwell- 
eth  therein  ?"  —Amos. 


66  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

the  season  of  service  is  over.  Money  stacked  up 
in  the  banks  is  the  clearest  evidence  that  something 
is  wrong. 

When  the  vessels  are  large  fewer  are  needed  and 
if  the  crates  or  sacks  3'^ou  use  this  year  are  doubled 
in  size,  though  your  harvest  is  equal  to  that  of  last 
year,  you  will  need  only  half  as  many.  If  all  the 
packages  for  the  conveyance  of  values  furnished  by 
the  government  are  doubled  in  size,  there  will  be 
but  half  as  man}^  needed  for  the  exchange  of  the 
same  properties.  As  we  have  show^n,  the  govern- 
ment has  doubled  the  unit  and  therefore  doubled  the 
size  just  as  truly  as  the  size  of  a  box  would  be 
doubled  containing  the  same  number  of  inches,  but 
those  inches  twice  the  former  length.  Formerly  one 
bushel  of  wheat  would  fill  a  dollar  package  and 
have  nearly  a  peck  to  spare;  the  present  dollar  (or 
goldiin)  package  holds  two  bushels  and  more,  so  the 
wheat  farmer  does  not  need  half  so  many  as  formerly'. 
Twenty  3^ears  ago  the  planter  filled  a  hundred  dollar 
package  with  one  bale  of  cotton,  now  he  can  put 
three  bales  in  the  hundred  dollar  (or  o-o/c/i/n)  package. 
He  does  not  need  over  one-third  as  many  as  for- 
merly. If  the  farmer  has  during  the  winter  enlarged 
all  his  crates  and  boxes  to  double  their  former  size, 
and  yet  raises  no  larger  harvest,  of  course  one-half 
will  be  idle. 

There  is  a  positive  want  of  property  to  fill  these 
packages  now  that  they  carry  double  the  values 
they  did  iornxerly.  If  the  dollar  measure  were  re- 
stored to  its  former  size  these  immense  reserves 
would  soon  be  brought  into  active  use. 


RISE  OF  GOLD.  07 


RISE  OF  GOLD. 

ARTICLE    VI.  j 

Ex-Senator  Ingalls  in  a  speech  on  February  15, 
1878,  said  :  "  No  people  in  a  great  emergenc}^  ever 
found  a  faithful  all}"  in  gold.  It  is  the  most  cowardly 
of  all  metals.  It  makes  no  treaty  it  does  not  break. 
It  has  no  friends  it  does  not  sooner  or  later   betray. 

"  Armies  and  navies  are  not  maintained  by  gold. 
In  times  of  panic  and  calamit}^,  shipwreck  and 
disaster,  it  becomes  the  agent  and   minister  of  ruin.  , 

No   nation    ever   fought  a  great  war  by  the  aid  of         1 
gold.     On  the  contrary,  in  the  crisis  of   the   greatest 
peril,  it  becomes   the   greatest  enemy,  more    potent 
than  the  foe  in  the  field  ;  but  when  the  battle  is  won         | 
and   peace    has    been   secured,   gold    reappears   and 
claims  the  fruits  of  victory.     In  our  own  civil  war  it         i 
is  doubtful  if  the  gold  of  New  York  and  London  did 
not  work  us   greater  injury  than   the    powder   and 
lead  and  iron  of  the  rebels. 

"  It  was  the  most  invincible  enemy  of  the  public 
credit.  Gold  paid  no  soldier  or  sailor.  It  refused 
the  national  obligations.  It  was  worth  most  when 
our  fortunes  were  the  lowest.  Every  defeat  gave  it 
increased  value.  It  was  in  open  alliance  with  our 
enemies  the  world  over,  and  all  its  energies  were 
evoked  for  our  destruction. 

"  But  as  usual,  when  danger  has  been  averted 
and  the  victory  secured,  gold  swaggers  to  the  front 
and  asserts  the  supremacy," 


68  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

The  dollar  is  not  a  vague  and  indefinite  thing. 
It  is  not  merely  the  stamp  of  the  government,  but  it 
is  a  tangible  quantity  of  metal.  Kvery  dollar  now 
means  25.8  grains  of  gold  and  when  a  dollar  is  prom- 
ised it  means  the  payment  of  that  amount  of  gold, 
or  its  equivalent,  on  demand.  It  is  just  as  truly 
a  specific  promise  as  a  promise  to  deliver  wheat, 
except  that  the  government  has  furnished  authori- 
tative equivalents  to  the  gold  in  currency.  The  unit 
in  France,  Belgium  and  Switzerland  is  the  franc, 
3.125  pennyweights  of  silver,  and  the  franc  must  be 
met  with  that  amount  of  silver  or  its  equivalent. 
The  unit  of  the  United  Kingdom  is  the  sovereign, 
which  contains  123.2744783306518059  grains  of  gold. 
In  looking  at  that  fraction  the  full  force  of  the  re- 
marks of  an  English  representative  in  the  Brussels 
Conference  can  be  appreciated,  when  he  said  that 
"  It  is  now  know^n  in  the  United  Kingdom,  when  a 
debt  is  incurred,  exactly  the  amount  of  gold  that 
has  to  be  paid  ;  an}'-  change  from  that  unit 
would  disturb  contracts,  and  such  a  change  as  the 
addition  of  silver  to  the  base  would  be  leaping  into 
the  dark,  for  the  effect  can  not  be  foreseen." 

When  the  change  was  made  from  gold  and  silver 
to  gold  alone,  it  naturally  and  unavoidably  caused 
that  metal  to  rise  in  price.  It  produced  an  unusual 
and  sharp  demand.  The  rise  was  similar  to  that 
of  any  other  commodit}"  in  like  conditions.  If  the 
contracts  for  lumber  over  the  country  were  sud- 
denl}'^  changed  so  that  all  called  for  walnut,  there 
would  be  such  a  demand  for  the  meager  supply 
of  that  variety  that  the  holders  of  w^alnut  w^ould 
double,  triple  and  go  wild  in  putting  up  the  price. 
If    the  contracts    for    grains  Avere    changed    to  call 


RISE  OF  GOLD.  09 

for  corn  onl}",  then  that  cereal  would  be  in  such 
demand  that  the  price  would  at  once  rise  beyond 
all  precedent,  and  as  these  contracts  continued  to  be 
pressed  for  fulfillment,  there  Mrould  be  no  limit  to 
the  extortionate  demands  that  would  be  made. 

When  all  contracts  for  money  were  made  to  mean 
gold  alone,  then  this  unusual  and  sharp  demand 
caused  gold  to  rise  just  as  a  demand  for  any  other 
commodity  would  put  up  the  price.  This  was 
aggravated,  too,  by  the  fact  that  this  metal  "was  mostly 
held  b3'  a  few.  A  few  held  a  corner  on  the  gold  of 
the  world.  A  great  gold  trust  manipulated  the 
whole  suppl}^. 

When  silver  was  demonetized  we  had  not  suf- 
ficient silver  and  gold  combined  to  meet  more  than 
two-thirds  of  the  demands  of  our  currency.  There 
were  at  least  five  hundred  millions  that  could  not 
have  been  filled  with  either  metal.  When  every 
dollar  was  made  to  mean  and  demand  gold  there  ^'as 
not  gold  enough  to  meet  one-third  of  the  currency. 
European  nations  that  had  Ijeen  l)imetallic,  and 
India  that  had  used  silver,  demanded  gold. 
The  unavoidable  result  has  been  that  this  has 
caused  an  appreciation  of  gold  that  greath" 
aggravates  the  situation  now,  and  affords  no  hope 
of  relief  in  the  future.  It  has  created  a  demand  that 
the  w^orld  cannot  supply.  It  has  been  parting  from 
everything  else  and  rising.  All  other  products  have 
remained  relatively'  to  each  other  the  same,  but  gold 
has  soared  above  thena  all.  Take  the  average  of 
forty  staple  articles  and  they  bear  to  each  other  the 
same  relative  prices  the\"  did  twenty  3'ears  ago,  but 
gold  is  fifty  per  cent,  higher. 

The  following  are  the  average  gold  prices  of  com- 
modities calculated  bj^  Augustus  Sauerbeck,  Esq.,  of 
3  Moorgate  Street  Buildings,  E.  C,  London,  in  his 
long  and  elaborate   paper  on  "Prices   of   Commodi- 


70 


THESE  HARD  TIMES. 


ties  and  the  Precious  Metals"  (Journal  of  Statistical 
Society-,  March,  1892).  The  commodities  are  the 
leading  articles  of  commerce,  valued  separatel}^, 
but  classified  under  six  general  heads  :  "  Vegetable 
food,"  "Animal  food,"  "Coffee,  sugar  and  tea," 
"Minerals"  (chiefly  metals  and  coals),  "Textiles," 
and  "  Sundr3^  materials  "  (.such  as  cotton,  flax,  hemp, 
jute,  wool,  silk,  oil  seeds,  petroleum,  chemicals, 
indigo,  timber).  The  lists  and  valuation  show  the 
greatest  care,  and  are  accepted  generally  as  abso- 
lutely' reliable.  Mr.  Sauerbeck  decidedl}'  recognizes 
the  appreciation  of  gold.  His  evidence  and  sta- 
tistics are  valuable. 

AVERAGE  GOLD    PRICES  OF  COMMODITIES. 


e  food 
itc.) 

food 
etc.) 

offee 
ea 

•a 

0 

o 

9) 

"3 

01 

a 

S   X 

=  .2 

a 
o 

^M   "*' 

^^ 

u  *- 

«4N 

u 

•■* 

>i  a 

•"  "a 

Year 

Vegetal) 
(corn. 

Aniiiia 
(meat, 

Sugar, 
and 

"3 

o 
H 

s 

Sundr 
terii 

Total 
terii 

c 
a 

u 

O 

1871-.- 

94 

100 

100 

98 

93 

103 

105 

101 

100 

1872--- 

101 

101 

104 

102 

127 

114 

108 

115 

109 

1873--- 

106 

109 

106 

107 

141 

103 

106 

114 

111 

1874--- 

105 

103 

105 

104 

116 

92 

96 

100 

102 

1875--- 

93 

108 

100 

100 

101 

88 

92 

93 

96 

1876  - - 

92 

108 

98 

99 

90 

85 

95 

91 

95 

1877  - - 

100 

101 

103 

101 

84 

85 

94 

89 

94 

1878.-- 

95 

101 

90 

96 

74 

78 

88 

81 

87 

1879--- 

87 

94 

87 

90 

73 

74 

85- 

78 

83 

1880  — 

89 

101 

88 

94 

79 

81 

89 

84 

88 

1881  .- 

84 

101 

84 

91 

77 

77 

86 

80 

85 

1882  -.- 

84 

104 

76 

89 

79 

73 

85 

80 

84 

1883  --- 

82 

103 

77 

89 

76 

70 

84 

77 

82 

1884 -- 

71 

97 

63 

79 

68 

68 

81 

73 

76 

1885... 

68 

88 

63 

74 

66 

65 

76 

70 

72 

1886--- 

65 

87 

60 

72 

67 

63 

69 

67 

69 

1887  -- 

64 

79 

67 

70 

69 

65 

67 

&1 

68 

1888... 

67 

82 

65 

72 

78 

64 

67 

69 

70 

1889--- 

65 

86 

75 

75 

75 

70 

m 

70 

72 

1890.-- 

65 

82 

70 

73 

80 

66 

69 

71 

72 

1891  --- 

75 

81 

71 

77 

76 

59 

69 

68 

72 

1892*-- 

67 

84 

68 

73i 

72 

56 

66 

64i 

m 

*  For  10  months. 


RISE  OF  GOLD.  71 

The  table  ends  with  1892.  Had  we  the  statistics 
for  the  past  two  j^ears  they  would  show  that  not  only 
staple  commodities,  but  all  properties,  real  and  per- 
sonal, have  shrunk  in  prices  relative  to  gold  beyond 
that  in  any  four  years  given  in  the  table.  Has  not 
gold  risen  when  it  w^ill  buy  from  forty  to  seventy-five 
per  cent,  more  property  of  ever^^  kind  ? 

But  there  a  re  those  who  insist  that  gold  is  the  stable 
article  and  that  ever^^thing  else  has  fallen  in  price. 
The  personal  position  and  point  of  view  produces 
this  impression.  A  person  rising  in  a  balloon  is  car- 
ried upward  so  easilj^  and  so  smoothlj- that  he  is  not 
conscious  of  his  own  motion  ;  the  world  seems  to  be 
slipping  away  under  him.  Those  on  the  ground  can 
clearly  see  that  he  is  lifted  above  the  earth  by  a 
great  sack  of  inflating  gas  and  that  he  is  floating 
away  from  them.  So  the  man  astride  a  lump  of 
gold  feels  that  it  is  so  solid  and  stable,  it  grows 
neither  larger  nor  heavier,  and  he  is  so  comfortable, 
and  safe,  and  sure,  and  quiet,  making  no  effort,  that 
he  has  no  consciousness  of  motion  ;  the  farms  and 
plantations  wdth  their  wheat  and  cotton  fields  glide 
away,  the  horses,  sheep  and  cattle  become  mere 
specks  under  him  ;  the  whole  earth  seems  to  be 
sinking,  and  nothing  but  a  collapse  of  the  artificial 
support  will  convince  him  of  his  illusion. 


GOLD   RISES. 
The  inflating  gas  has  been  chietly  furnished  by  the  United  States. 

HON.  JOHN  SHERMAN  TO  SAMUEL  B.   RUGGLES,  ESQ. 

Hotel  .Jardin  dks  Tuilleries,  May  18,  1867. 
My  Dear  Sir:  Your  note  of  yesterday,  iiKiuiriug  whether  Congress  would  probably, 
in  future  coinage,  make  our  gold  dollar  eouforni  In  value  to  the  gold  5-f  ranc  piece,  has  been 
receised.  «  «  »  The  time  is  now  so  favorable  that  I  feel  quite  sure  that  Congress 
will  adopt  any  practical  measure  that  will  secure  to  the  commercial  world  a  uniform  stan- 
dard of  value  and  exchange. 

The  only  question  will  be  how  this  can  be  accomplished. 

Our  gold  dollar  is  certainly  as  good  a  unit  of  value  as  the  franc,  and  so  the  English  think 
of  their  pound  sterling. 

As  the  gold  5-f  ranc  piece  is  now  in  use  by  over  60.000,000  of  people  of  several  different 
nationalties,  and  is  of  convenient  form  and  size,  it  miy  well  be  adopted  by  other  nations  a^ 
the  Common  standard  of  value  ;  leaving  to  each  nation  to  regulate  the  divisions  of  this  unit 
m  silver  coins  or  tokens. 

If  tills  is  done  France  will  surely  abandon  the  Impossible  effort  of  making  two  standards 
of  value.  Gold  coins  will  answer  all  the  purposes  of  European  commerce.  A  common  gold 
standard  will  regulate  silver  coinage,  of  which  the  United  States  will  furnish  the  greater  part. 

Congress  alone  can  change  the  value  of  our  coin.  I  see  no  object  in  negotiating  with 
other  powers  on  the  subject  As  coin  is  not  now  in  general  circulation  with  us.  we  can  read- 
ily fi.\  by  law  the  size,  weight,  and  measure  of  future  issues.  It  is  not  worth  the  while  to  ne- 
gotiate about  that  which  we  can  do  without  negotiation. 

In  hi.s  report  of  November  7,  1867,  pages  99  and  100,  Mr.  Ruggles  said  : 

On  all  these  questions  the  interests  of  monetary  unification  were  materially  advanced  by 
the  publication  at  Paris  of  the  concise  but  admirable  letter  from  the  Hon.  John  Sherman, 
Senator  in  Congress  from  the  State  of  Ohio. 


Mr.  Sherman  quotes  Mr.  Ruggles'  report  in  advancing  a  coinage  bill 
June  9,1868: 

France,  whose  standard  is  adopted,  makes  a  new  coin  similar  to  our  lialf-eagle.  Slie 
yields  to  our  demand  for  the  sole  slandurd  of  gold,  and  during  the  whole  conference  evinced 
tlie  most  earnest  wish  to  secure  the  cooperation  of  tlie  United  States  in  the  great  ohject  of 
unification  of  coinage. — Senate  Committee  Report,  No.  in.  Fortieth  Congress,  second  ses- 
sion, i)ages  4,  5,  and  6. 


"1.  The  rise  in  the  purchasing  power  of  gold,  that  is,  the  general  fall 
ill  the  price  level  of  commodities,  was  predicted  by  the  well-kno-wn 
monetary  writers,  VVoIowski  and  Ernst  Seyd,  in  1868,  before  the  intro- 
duction of  the  gold  standard.  Their  prophecy  was  repeated  later  by  E. 
de  L,aveleye  and  Carey.  Even  l>r.  Bamberger  said,  in  the  session  of 
the  Reichstag,  May  29,  1873.  according  to  the  stenographic  report  :  'On 
the  contrary,  gentleman,  I  fully  agree  with  one  of  the  speakers  who 
have  preceded  me,  that  a  greater  demand  for  gold  will  result  from  our 
gold  policy  and  the  similar  po  icies  adopted  by  other  countries.  Gold 
will  then  rise,  and  a  consequence  of  our  currency  reform  will  be  that 
prices  with  us,  if  we  once  go  over  to  the  gold  standard,  will  decline.' 
Robert  Giffen,  recognized  as  one  of  the  best  authorities  of  the  gold- 
standard  party,  declared  in  1888  :  '  If  events  are  the  touchstones  of 
prophecies,  no  prophecy  was  ever  more  certain  than  the  increased 
dearness  of  gold.  That  the  fall  of  prices  throughout  a  compass  so  gen- 
eral as  that  in  which  we  now  see  it  falling  is  to  be  referred  to  an  ele- 
vation in  the  purchasing  power  of  gold  is  generally,  and  I  might 
almost  say  universally,  admitted.' 

"  'i.  The  attempt  to  refer  this  lowering  in  the  general  level  of  prices 
to  other  causes,  lying  outside  the  coinage  system,  for  instance,  to 
cheapening  and  improvement  in  means  of  communication,  to  the  per" 
fecting  of  processes  and  machines  fur  the  production  of  goods,  etc., 
must  be  considered  a  failure,  for  the  reason  that  the  same  causes  were 
present  in  the  Same  strength  during  the  twenty-year  period  before  1873, 
though  at  that  time  there  was  observable  a  gradual  elevation  in  the 
prices  of  goods  in  general  ;  while,  since  1873,  that  is,  since  the  beginning 
of  the  fall  in  the  gold  price  of  silver  through  the  introduction  of  the 
gold  standard  in  Germany,  a  sharp  and  permanent  lowering  in  general 
prices  has  come  ix\.'^— Extract  from  the  Declaration  of  the  Biiuetal- 
ists  of  the  German  Commission,  1804. 


74  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 


STABILITY  OF  SILVER. 

ARTICLE    VII. 

Stal)ility  is  uniforniit}-  of  value  in  relation  to  the 
various  kinds  of  property,  and  staple  commodities, 
and  the  necessities  of  life.  Gold  has  parted  from 
ever^'thing  else.  If  silver  maintains  its  relation  to 
other  commodities  when  it,  itself,  is  merely  a  com- 
modity, and  there  is  no  law  to  give  it  a  fictitious 
value,  it  is  a  severe  test.  If  the  same  weight  of 
silver  will  purchase  the  same  quantity"  of  land  and 
of  staple  articles  since  1873  that  it  did  before,  then 
it  is  shown  that  it  has,  in  itself,  the  elements  of 
strength  and  that  it  has  not  derived  its  stable  value 
from  special  legislation.  It  is  a  wonder  that  it  has 
not  gone  down.  What  criminal  has  ever  been  pur- 
sued with  such  zealous  and  malignant  fur}^  such 
thorough  and  complete  conspiracy  ?  What  criminal 
has  ever  been  followed  with  such  relentless  hatred  ? 
The  energies  of  the  entire  monej'  power  of  the  world 
have  been  concentrated  against  it.  Three  of  the 
largest  and  most  inaportant  nations  of  the  world,  the 
United  Kingdom,  German}-,  and  the  United  States, 
struck  it  down  and  took  awaj-  its  money  value  and 
reduced  it  to  the  basis  of  spoons.  But  in  the  face 
of  all  this  the  purchasing  quality  of  silver  has 
remained  more  stable  than   that  of  gold. 

Gold  has  rapidh-  gone  up,  but  silver  has  re- 
mained nearly  equal  in  its   purchasing  power,  not- 


STABILITY  OF  SILVER. 


iO 


withstanding  all  the  mutations  of  mining  and 
commerce  and  of  good  and  poor  harvests.  All 
the  statisticians  and  financiers  of  the  world  whose 
declarations  are  worth  anything,  put  the  criterion. 
as  to  the  permanent  value  of  the  precious  metals 
upon  their  ability  to  purchase  the  necessities  of  life. 
Any  other  criterion  is  false.  When  you  can  take  so 
much  silver  and  buy  so  much  meat,  and  so  much 
bread,  and  so  much  clothing,  and,  although  gold 
may  go  up,  the  ounce  of  silver  still  continues  to 
buy  the  same  quantity  of  meat  and  bread  and  cloth- 
ing, it  has  not  fallen.  Silver  has  not  fluctuated 
under  this  criterion  of  its  power,  and  the  tables  of 
the  most  eminent  statisticians  show  it.  The  price 
of  silver  and  the  average  price  of  forty  commodities 
of  Sauerbeck's  tables  we  give  below  ;  this  shows 
how  evenly  has  been  the  separation  of  silver  and 
all  commodities  from  gold.  If  the  3'ears  1893  and 
1894  were  added,  though  the  decline  has  been 
marked  in  staple  products,  the  same  uniformity 
would  be  found. 

The  following  table  shows  a  comparison  between 
commodities  and  silver,  with  gold  prices  : 


Year. 

Average 
of  40  com- 
modities. 

Silver. 

Year. 

Average 
of  40  com- 
modities. 

Silver. 

1873 

1880 

1885 

Ill 

88 
72 
69 
68 
70 

97.4 
85.9 
79.9 
74.(i 
73.3 
70.4 

1889 

1890 

1891 

72 

72 
72 
6<>.8 
67.4 

70.2 
78.4 
74.1 

1886 

1887  - 

1892 

1893  (lOMos.)  -- 

62.7 
64.5 

1888 

A  table  also  is  appended  showing  the  relative 
prices  of  the  two  great  staples,  wheat  and  cotton 
and  silver  bullion  : 


76  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

A\-ERAGE      PRICE      OF      WHEAT.    COTTON    .AN*D     5II.VER     BULLION,    BY 

YEAKS,  FROX  1S72  TO  ISW. 


Wheat. 


Cotton. 


Silver. 


1872  - 

1873. 

1871. 

1875. 

1876. 

1877. 

1878. 

1879. 

1880. 

1881. 

1882  . 

1883 

1884. 

1885 . 

1886 

1887. 

1888, 

1889 

1890. 

1891 

1892 

1^93 


.1.17 
.1.31 
.1.13 
.1.12 
.1.21 
.1.17 
-1.31 
-1.07 
.125 
-1.11 
.1.19 
-1.13 
-1.07 
.  .86 

-  .87 

-  .89 
.  .85 
.  .90 
.1.08 
.  .85 
.  .80 

-  .62 


1872 

1873 

1871. 

1^75. 

1876 

1S77. 

1878. 

1879. 

1880 

1881. 

1882 

1883 

18.81. 

1885 

1886 

1887, 

1888 

1889 

1890 

1891 

1892 

1893 


19.3 

18.8 

15.* 

15.0 

12.9 

11.8 

11.1 

9.9 

11.5 

11.1 

11.1 

10.8 

10.5i 

10.6' 

9.9 

9.5 

9.8 

9.9 

10.1 

10.0 

8.7' 

7.0 


1872 
1873 
1871 
1875 
1876 
1877 
1878 
1879 
1880 
1881 
1S82 


1883 

18S1 

1885 

1886 

1887 

1888 

1889 

1890 

1891 

1892 

1893  (10  Mos.) 


32 
29 
27 
21 
15 
,20 
15 
.12 
.11 
.13 
.13 
.1.11 
-1.10 
-1.06 
.  .99 
.  .97 
.  .93 
.  .93 
.1.01 

-  .98 

-  .87 

-  .75 


The  purchasing  power  of  silver  has  been  so 
stable  that  it  is  said  the  price  of  staples  in  the 
Chicago  market  for  the  last  twenty  years  can  be 
estimated  from  the  prices  of  silver  bullion  during 
those  years.  Here  is  a  rule  by  which  you  can  gen- 
erally estimate  the  price  of  any  staple  in  any  year 
since  1873. 

Take  the  price  of  silver  in  1874,  the  price  of  the 
staple  in  that  year  and  the  price  of  silver  in  anj- 
year  since,  and  with  the  three  factors  make  a  sum 
in  the  rule  of  three,  and  the  result  will  give  you  the 
price  of  the  article  desired  for  that  3'ear.  For  exam- 
ple :  Silver  averaged  in  1874  in  Chicago  $1.27  per 
ounce.  Wheat  that  year,  according  to  the  Chicago 
Tribune,  averaged  in  that  city  ^l.OS^^  per  bushel  in 


STABILITY  OF  SILVER.  77 

gold.  Silver  is  now  worth  62  cents  per  ounce.  The 
problem  then  is,  as  127  is  to  62,  so  is  108,75  to  the 
answer,  which  is  54  cents,  the  price  of  wheat  in 
Chicago.  It  applies  to  all  the  products  of  the  fac- 
tory, the  mine  and  the  farm,  and  to  the  land  itself. 

That  show^s  that  as  much  as  silver  has  been 
degraded  it  has  lost  none  of  its  purchasing  power^ 
and  in  estimating  the  fall  in  prices  that  fact  is 
worth  more  than  any  number  of  finely-spun  theories. 

The  price  of  wheat  in  the  London  market  is  quite 
uniformly  one  ounce  of  silver  for  a  bushel  of  wheat. 
The  price  of  wheat  anywhere  in  the  world  can  be 
estimated  from  this,  if  we  know  the  cost  of  trans- 
portation. The  price  of  ■wheat  in  New  York  or 
Chicago,  or  any  inland  town,  is  one  ounce  of  silver 
less  the  transportation  to  Liverpool,  The  price  at 
any  place  in  India  can  be  found  in  the  same  way. 
They  keep  very  close  together  in  price,  and  if  we 
depreciate  silver  we  depress  -wheat  also.  Wheat  is 
not  declining  in  price  now,  because  of  the  vast  quan- 
tity raised,  for  the  world's  supply  has  been  growing 
less  and  less  for  the  past  three  3'ears.  We  have 
made  the  price  low^  ourselves,  not  by  raising  more 
than  is  needed,  but  by  destroying  as  money  its 
natural  measure  of  value. 

Cotton,  wool  and  iron  have  shown  the  same  ten- 
dency to  keep  close  to  silver  in  the  range  of  their 
prices,  though  in  all,  silver  has  shown  itself  to  be 
the  stronger  product,  and  has  declined  slightly  less 
than  they. 

If  we  take  the  value  of  lands,  the  weight  of  silver 
that  w^ould  buy  the  farm  twenty  years  ago,  will  buy 
it  to-day,  and  would  have  bought  it  in  anj^  of  the 
years    intervening.     In    nominal    value    they    went 


78  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

down  together.  Indeed  silver  has  held  its  price 
relative  to  gold  better  than  land.  In  anj"  waj'  we 
can  vnew  the  position  of  silver,  it  has  been  firtn. 
The  distance  between  it  and  gold  has  not  been 
increased  more  than  the  distance  between  the  farms 
and  plantations  and  gold,  between  the  wheat  and 
cotton  fields  and  gold,  between  the  iron  and  metal 
furnaces  and  gold,  between  the  cattle,  sheep,  and 
horses  and  gold.  Is  not  the  change  wholly  in  the 
rise  of  gold,  while  silver  has  remained  as  stable  as 
the  rock}^  hills  in  their  relation  to  all  around  them? 
As  the  prices  of  all  properties  real  and  personal 
have  declined  with  silver,  it  is  onl}^  the  logical  con- 
clusion that  it  would  lift  all  up,  or  that  it  u^ould 
hold  gold  down,  if  it  were  remonetized  at  the  old 
ratio.  Gold  was  held  down  by  it  so  long  as  it  was 
attached,  though  restless  as  an  anchored  balloon, 
after  we  began  to  inflate  it  in  1867;  it  began  to  soar 
when  released   bv  our   own   act   in    1873. 


GROWTH  OF  WEALTH.  79 


GROWTH  OF  WEALTH. 

ARTICLE    VIII. 

Shy.    When  Jacob  grazed  his  uncle  Laban's  sheep— 
This  Jacob  from  our  holy  Abraham  was 
The  third  possessor  ;  ay,  he  was  the  third. 

Ant.    And  what  of  him  ?    Did  he  take  interest  ? 

Shy.    No,  not  take  interest  ;  not  as  you  would  say, 

Directly  interest.    Mark  what  Jacob  did.        ***** 
*************** 

Ant.    This  was  a  venture,  sir,  that  Jacob  served  for; 
A  thing  not  in  his  power  to  brinif  to  pass- 
But  swaj'ed  and  fashioned  bj-  the  hand  of  Heaven, 
Was  this  inserted  to  make  interest  good? 
Or  is  your  gold  and  silver,  ewes  and  rams  ? 

Shy.    I  cannot  tell;  I  make  them  breed  as  fast. 

—Merchant  of  Venice. 

Few  can  realize  our  enormous  increase  of  wealth 
since  our  beginning  as  a  nation.  The  amount  of 
property  w^as  then  trifling,  among  3,000,000  of  poor 
people,  compared  w^ith  the  estimates  that  are  now 
necessary.  The  great  public  debt  at  the  close  of  the 
war  for  independence  was  $42,000,000,  and  the  debts 
of  all  the  states  about  $21,000,000,  so  that  the  burden 
of  debt,  national  and  state,  then,  was  not  so  large  as 
the  amount  of  gold  it  is  now  thought  necessary  for 
the  government  to  have  always  in  the  pocket  as 
loose  change.  From  our  poverty  we  gathered  until 
in  1860,  it  was  estimated  that  the  wealth  of  all  this 
great  land  would  aggregate  $16,000,000,000;  but  then 
rapid  development  began  and  an  increase  that  in 
1880  was  estimated  at  $50,000,000,000,  and  this,  not- 
withstanding the  setting  free  of  1600  millions  of 
property  in  slaves.  We  increased  in  population 
from  23,000,000  in  1860  to  62,0C0,000  in  1890.     We  suf- 


80  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

fered  a  tremendous  loss  from  the  withdrawal  of  ac- 
tive producers  north  and  south  during  the  civil  war, 
and  the  destruction  of  vast  properties,  yet  in  1890 
the  estimate  by  M.  Jennet  is  $70,000,0000,000  according 
to  the  old  standard  or  base  of  value. 

During  this  time  there  was  a  varying  output  of 
gold,  averaging  about  $33,000,000  per  annum  for  the 
whole  period. 

Silver  was  produced  in  a  much  less  amount  until 
the  discovery  of  the  Comstock  lode,  which  has 
caused  it  to  about  equal  in  value  that  of  gold.  That 
is,  while  we  were  gathering  from  the  forests  and 
fields,  and  developing  resources  of  every  kind,  in- 
creasing the  wealth  of  the  nation  $50,000,000,000  in 
thirty  years,  $2,000,000,000  of  this  were  found  in  the 
precious  metals,  which  we  use  as  money,  in  the  arts, 
in  ornaments,  and  in  ever}^  wa3^  in  which  they  can 
be  employed.  As  a  base  of  values  for  the  vast  in- 
crease in  wealth  both  are  inadequate.  There  must 
be  a  shrinkage  in  valuation  to  counteract  the  dis- 
proportion that  is  constantly  increasing. 

But  the  wealth  of  the  world  is  increasing  outside 
of  our  own  land,  but  not  with  equal  rapidit3%  though 
enormously.  The  wealth  of  the  United  Kingdom  is 
estimated  by  M.  Jennet  at  $50,000,000,000,  and  increas- 
ing at  the  rate  of  $1,000,000,000  per  year  :  France  $40,- 
000,000,000.  The  wealth  of  all  Europe  is  estimated 
at  $200,000,000,000,  and  principally  gathered  since  the 
opening  of  this  centurj^  and  especially  during  this 
closing  half.  The  United  States  at  $70,000,000,000. 
The  wealth  of  the  world  is  estimated  at  $500,000,000,- 
000,  and  rapidly  growing  in  all  civilized  lands. 

We  produce  one-fourth  of  the  world's  gold  and 
one-half  of  the  world's   silver.     If  we   retain  all  our 


GROWTH  OF  WEALTH.  81 

precious  metals  for  our  own  use  a  famine  would 
ensue  for  them  throughout  the  rest  of  the  world. 

Sir  W,  Petty  estimated  the  entire  wealth  of  Eng- 
land 200  years  ago  at  £1,250,000,000.  Two  centuries 
have,  therefore,  increased  it  forty-fold,  but  the  in- 
crease of  the  precious  metals  in  the  whole  world  is 
less  than  forty-fold  in  the  400  years  since  America 
w^as  discovered. 

The  point  especially  to  be  impressed  in  this  ar- 
ticle is  the  potentiality  of  wealth  to  increase.  M. 
Jennet  quotes  the  elaborate  calculation  of  an  ingen- 
ious author  to  show  that  100  francs  ($20)  accumulat- 
ing at  live  per  cent,  compound  interest  for  seven 
centuries  would  be  sufficient  to  buy  the  whole  sur- 
face of  the  globe,  both  land  and  water,  at  the  rate  of 
1,000,000  francs  ($200,000)  per  hectare  (nearly  4  square 
miles).  From  this  we  can  gather  that  $20  at  five  per 
cent,  compound  interest  for  700  years  would  buy  all 
the  earth,  mountains,  and  swamp  lands,  and  water, 
at  $80  per  acre.  The  onl}^  difficulty  in  this  accretion 
is  to  secure  a  debtor  who  will  not  die.  Fortunately, 
we  can  inherit  the  property  of  our  fathers,  but  we 
do  not  inherit  their  debts.  We  are  born  free  as  indi- 
viduals. But  national  debts  bind  from  age  to  age 
and  are  bequeathed  by  the  fathers  to  the  children 
and  descend  from  generation  to  generation,  like  the 
debt  of  Great  Britain  for  200  years.  Now  if  a  nation 
becomes  indebted,  and  that  debt  can  be  made  per- 
manent, then  the  accretion  can  go  on  %vithout 
interruption. 

It  has  been  the  policy  of  modern  nations  to  incur 
debt.  Few  states  are  free.  The  state  debt  of  Ohio  is 
$6,000,000.  Most  cities  and  incorporated  towns  have 
debts  of  greater  or  less  amounts  incurred  for  public 

6 


82  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

improvements.  They  aggregate  in  Ohio  $80,000,000. 
If  these  municipal,  and  state,  and  national  debts  can 
be  made  perpetual  though  at  so  low  a  rate  of  interest 
as  three  per  cent,  they  will  absorb  the  energies  of 
the  people,  and,  like  a  glacier  grinding  over  the  earth, 
will  crush  and  level  all  beneath  them. 

If  w^e  express  the  world's  indebtedness,  the 
national  debts,  in  the  terms  of  our  currency  as  near 
as  we  can  reduce  the  currency  of  other  nations  to 
such  an  expression,  we  find  the  national  debts  as 
follows,  in  1890 : 

Denmark $     33,004,722 

Great  Britain 3,848,460.000 

United  States 915,962,112 

German}' 1,956,217,017 

Austria-Hungary 2.666,339,539 

France 4,446.793,398 

Russia 3,491,016,074 

Italy 2.324,826,329 

Spain 1,251,433.096 

Netherlands 430,539,653 

Belgium 360,504,099 

Sweden 64,220,807 

Norway 13.973,7.52 

Portugal 490,493,599 

Greece-   107,306,518 

Turkey 821,000,000 

Switzerland 10,912,925 

These  debts  aggregate $22,955,386,008 

This  does  not  include  the  debts  of  states  and  mu- 
nicipalities, of  railroads  and  great  corporations,  which 
cannot  be  definitely  kno\\m. 

The  whole  annual  gold  product  of  the  world  last 
year  was  about  $130,000,000,  two-fifths  of  which  is 
used  in  the  arts,  leaving  only  $80,000,000  to  be  used 
for  money.     And  if  this  should  all  be  applied  to  the 


GROWTH  OF  WEALTH.  83 

payment  of  the  interest  on  the  public  debts  it  would 
pa}'-  but  one-third  of  one  per  cent.  The  total  product 
of  the  gold  in  the  world  for  the  past  one  hundred 
years  is  not  in  excess  of  8,000  tons,  or  in  round  num- 
bers $4,000,000,000  of  money.  Should  the  world  con- 
tinue to  produce  gold  as  it  has  during  this  century 
it  would  still  require  600  3'ears  to  gather  the  gold 
■with  which  to  pay  the  -world's  present  national  debts, 
by  taking  all  the  product,  and  over  800  years  if  we 
take  out  the  usual  proportion  consumed  for  other 
purposes. 

On  a  gold  basis,  the  principals  can  never  be  paid, 
and  if  the  interest  even  is  to  be  paid  in  gold  they 
will  enslave  forever  those  upon  whom  the  obli- 
gations rest.  An  individual  debt  may  crush  the 
individual  but  it  ends  there.  The  debt  of  a  nation 
enslaves  the  generations.  Wise  and  patriotic  states- 
men would  never  incur  a  national  debt  that  could 
be  avoided,  nor  would  they  perpetuate  a  debt  that 
could  possibl}"  be  paid. 

Five  hundred  and  tift}^  milli(nis  of  our  bonds,  now 
payable  by  their  express  terms  in  coin  of  standard 
value,  will  fall  due  in  1907,  only  13  years  hence.  They 
are  more  than  the  half  of  our  present  national 
debt.  If  w^e  do  not  restore  silver  as  coin  of  stand- 
ard value  these  bonds  will  then,  133"  their  terms, 
become  pa^^able  in  gold.  They  can  be  paid  in  coin, 
silver  and  gold,  but  we  shall  never  be  able  to  pay 
them  in  gold  coin  alone.  It  should  be  accumulating 
now.  Unless  silver  is  restored  the  holders  of  these 
mortgages  will  force  a  new  mortgage  upon  the 
industry  of  the  nation  and  dictate  their  own  terms, 
and  this  burden  will  be  perpetuated  for  generations. 


84  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 


THIS  CENTURY. 

ARTICLE  IX. 

A  man  now  ninety-four  years  of  age,  who  had  the 
best  early  advantages,  and  retains  his  mental  fac- 
ulties in  active  exercise,  recalls  the  beginning  of 
almost  everj^thing  that  is  valuable.  We  can  scarcely 
believe  there  has  been  such  progress  in  a  single  life. 

His  mother  had  no  cook-stove,  but  hung  the  pot 
on  a  crane  over  the  fire  in  the  chirnne}^.  She  groped 
through  the  house  by  the  light  of  a  tallow  dip,  though 
it  was  mounted  on  a  silver  candlestick.  He  keeps 
her  spinning  wheel  as  a  relic,  and  also  his  father's 
sickle. 

When  seven  years  old  he  stood  on  the  banks  of 
the  Hudson  while  Robert  Fulton  moved  up  the  river 
w^ith  the  new  steamboat  at  the  rate  of  five  miles  an 
hour.  He  afterwards  heard  Prof.  Lardner  explain 
the  utter  impossibility  of  crossing  the  ocean  by  steam; 
he  remembers  that  the  learned  professor  said  the 
vessel  could  not  carry  sufficient  coal  to  keep  up  steam . 
Now  a  floating  palace  crosses  the  Atlantic  in  less  than 
six  days. 

He  recalls  the  curiosity  aroused  among  the 
farmers  when  he  was  a  young  man  by  the  appear- 
ance of  an  iron  plow.  Strips  of  iron  had  been  attached 
to  those  parts  which  naturally  wore  the  fastest  on 
the  wooden  mouldboards,  but  a  real  iron  plow  was 
an  innovation  such  as  startled  all  the  agricultural 
community. 

He  was  married  and  a  father,  and  stood  with  his 


THIS  CENTURY.  85 

own  little  boy,  seven  years  old,  and  saw  Peter 
Cooper's  train,  the  first  railroad  train  in  this  countrjs 
pull  out  from  Baltimore  to  EUicott  City.  Five  years 
later  it  was  rumored  that  one  Cyrus  McCormick  had 
secured  letters  patent  for  a  machine  that  actually 
would  cut  grain  and  grass  and  was  operated  by  a 
team  of  horses;  but  it  was  ten  years  later  before  he 
saw  the  machine  in  successful  operation  in  the  field. 

When  in  middle  life  he  startled  his  wife  by  read- 
ing that  sewing  w^as  to  be  done  by  a  machine  operated 
by  the  foot,  for  Elias  How^e  had  nearly  attained  suc- 
cess in  his  invention,  but  the  eyes  of  both  required 
glasses,  and  their  heads  were  well  silvered  before 
the}'  were  able  to  secure  a  successful  machine  for 
family  use. 

Friction  matches  were  now  introduced,  but  it  was 
feared  that  evil-minded  persons  would  terrorize  their 
enemies  by  incendiarism,  and  that  they  could  not  be 
found  out  and  punished. 

Wonderful  stories  were  told  of  the  possibility  of 
sending  messages  by  an  electric  current  in  an  instant, 
and  small  showmen  traveled  over  the  country  exhibit- 
ing in  halls  and  school-houses,  by  miniature  batteries, 
the  marvelous  new  force  in  nature  that  had  been  dis- 
covered. He  was  forty-four  years  old  w^hen  the 
short  but  devout  first  inessage  was  sent  from  Balti- 
more to  Washington,   "  What  hath  God  wrought  ?  " 

Goodyear,  of  his  own  age,  born  in  the  same  year  in 
w^hich  he  was  born,  w^as  now  also  successfully  ex- 
perimenting with  India  rubber,  and  the  overshoes 
'were  suggested,  but  the  boots  and  mackintoshes 
"were  not  brought  into  successful  service  until  many 
years  later. 

Oil  wells  began  to  pour  out  their  wealth,  and  pro- 


llJ 

z 

111 

X 

I- 


"  Out  of  the  old  house,  Nancy— moved  up  into  the  new  — 

All  the  hurry  and  worry  is  just  as  good  as  through  ; 

But  I  tell  j'ou  a  thing  right  here  that  I  ain't  ashamed  to  say, 

There's  precious  things  in  the  old  house  we  never  can  take  away. 

"  Fare  ye  well,  old  house!  You're  naught  that  can  feel  or  see. 

But  you  seem  like  a  human  being— a  dear  old  friend  to  uie, 

And  we  never  will  have  a  better  home,  if  my  opinion  stands. 

Until  we  commence  a  keepin'  house  in  the  house  not  made  with  hands." 

—Oat  of  the  Old  House,  Nancy. 


88  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

d  uced  the  peculiar  aristocracy  known  as  "petroleum." 

He  has  not  yet  come  to  understand  Richard  Hoe's 
invention.  It  is  incredible  to  him  that  the  paper 
the  family  receive  before  breakfast  was  printed  this 
very  morning.  He  was  past  three  score  and  ten  when 
the  telephone  and  electric  lights  and  motors  were 
introduced. 

He  was  born  on  the  Atlantic  coast  and  there 
remained  until  middle  life,  when  he  removed  to  be 
with  his  favorite  son  in  a  rising  village  called 
Chicago,  on  Lake  Michigan.  He  saw  this  become  a 
mighty  cit}--,  and  the  center  of  the  trade  of  great 
states,  which  had  also  arisen  ;  but  his  favorite 
grandson  removed  to  a  village  called  Denver  in  Col- 
orado in  1871,  and  with  him  he  is  spending  his  declin- 
ing years,  and  this  has  become  a  great  city  also. 

He  has  seen  a  great  nation  grow  from  a  mustard 
seed  to  reach  over  the  Continent  and  cover  it  with  a 
gridiron  of  steel  rails  and  string  it  with  electric 
wires  and  fill  it  with  homes. 

When  he  recounts  the  improvements  and  wealth 
that  have  come  in  during  his  life  he  infers  that  he 
was  born  into  a  poor  world.  No  cook-stoves,  nor 
furnaces,  no  kerosene,  nor  gas  light,  not  a  farm  tool 
used  at  present  except  the  hoe  and  the  wagon,  which 
was  heavy  and  clumsy;  no  dream  of  commercial  fer- 
tilizers, no  sewing  machines  nor  typewriters,  no  rub- 
ber goods,  few  newspapers  and  fewer  magazines,  no 
railroads,  nor  telegraph,  nor  telephone,  nor  electric 
motors,  no  steamships  and  no  commerce.  Since  he 
was  in  middle  life  the  new  Continent  of  Australia 
was  settled  and  New  Zealand  and  the  Islands  of  the 
Pacific  have  been  christianized  and  civilized.   Japan 


THIS  CENTURY.  89 

and  China  and  Corea  and  all  the  East  have  been 
opened  to  commerce. 

M.  Chevalier  estimated  that  the  amount  of 
precious  metals  in  1848  would  be  doubled  in  1880. 
It  was  further  estimated  by  Commissioners  Brow^ne 
and  Taylor,  who  made  their  report  to  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasur3^  McCullough,  that  this  would  only 
have  a  favorable  influence,  as  they  express  it,  "  no 
other  effect  than  to  vitalize  commerce."  These 
same  Commissioners  estimated  that  $25,000,000,000 
of  silver  and  gold  would  be  required  in  1900  to  bear 
the  same  relation  to  the  world's  wealth  that  the 
precious  metals  did  in  1848,  before  the  discovery  of 
gold  in  California,  or  Australia,  or  New  Zealand. 

No  uninspired  mind  ever  took  in  the  possible 
growth  in  every  line  of  human  achievement  that  this 
last  half  of  this  century  has  actually  seen,  yet  Ave  are 
closing  the  century  with  but  $10,000,000,000  of  the 
precious  metals,  less  than  one-half  the  amount  it 
was  estimated  the  world  "would  need,  and  we  have 
set  aside  the  silver,  which  is  the  one-half,  leaving 
but  $5,000,000,000,  the  one-fifth  of  the  amount  that 
was  estimated  the  commercial  world  should  need. 
If  our  base  of  measurements  has  thus  shrunk  up  in 
comparison  with  our  developed  wealth,  we  can 
easily  see  ho"w  there  can  be  no  hope  of  an  advance 
of  prices  but  only  positive  and  continuous  decline. 

If  our  wealth  and  commerce  are  increasing 
beyond  all  human  conception,  w^hile  the  precious 
metals,  both  silver  and  gold,  are  proportionately 
declining,  it  can  be  readily  seen  that  with  silver  dis- 
carded as  a  measure  of  values  there  must  be  an 
immediate  drop  of  one-half  in  price  of  properties 
and  then  only  a  positive  and  continuous  decline, 
without  hope  of  relief. 


^•0  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 


GOLD  SUPPLY. 

ARTICLE    X. 

The  Divine  One,  who  was  the  inspirer  of  the 
writer  of  the  book  of  Job,  says:  "Surely  there  is  a 
vein  for  the  silver  and  a  place  for  the  gold,"  and  all 
human  experience  has  confirmed  this.  Silver  was 
found  in  veins  in  Attica  and  worked  for  ages,  also  in 
the  Sierra  Morena  and  followed  for  a  mile  and  a 
half  into  the  mountain.  The  Potosi  vein  in  Bolivia 
\vas  worked  for  a  hundred  years  and  w^as  sunk  to  a 
great  depth.  The  Valenciana  in  Mexico,  that  yielded 
so  largely,  was  worked  for  ages.  The  richest  vein  ever 
opened  was  the  Comstock,  it  being  the  marvel  silver 
mine  of  the  world. 

But  gold  has  been  found  mostly'  in  placers.  It 
has  been  upon  the  surface  or  in  alluvial  deposits. 
It  has  nev^er  been  found  in  veins  that  it  paid 
to  work  for  long  periods.  Free  gold  is  found  in 
the  beds  of  the  streams  in  nuggets  and  scales^ 
and  small  grains  called  dust,  and  in  gravel  heaps 
through  which  it  is  distributed  in  limited  pockets. 
It  is  secured  from  these  deposits  by  hj'draulic 
mining,  w'hich  is^vashing  or  sluicing  the  gravel  and 
catching  the  gold  in  prepared  depressions  because  it 
is  heavier  than  any  other  substance.  The  free  gold 
in  these  streams  and  alluvial  deposits  must  have 
come  from  the  corrosion  during  ages  of  the  neigh- 
boring mountains.  The  veins  in  the  mountains 
have  been  sought  and  found  and  worked,  but  have 
alwaj^s    proved    a   disappointment.     An  instance  of 


GOLD  SUPPLY.  91 

this  is  the  Feather  River  in  California,  in  whose 
bed  so  much  free  gold  was  found  and  the  gravel 
beds  worked  down  by  hydraulic  pressure  almost 
ruined  the  farming  lands  and  the  towns  belovs^.  And 
yet  the  efforts  at  reduction  of  the  gold  quartz  in  the 
mountains  adjoining  have  been  costly  experiments 
to  the  numerous  companies  that  have  from  time  to 
time  undertaken  and  abandoned  it. 

Gold,  being  mostly  picked  up  on  or  near 
the  earth's  surface,  is  soon  gathered.  There  is 
no  gold  collected  in  Arabia  now,  but  there  was 
a  time  wdien  Strabo  saj^s  gold  was  found  there. 
Gold  was  found  in  Cornwall  and  Devonshire  and 
Wales,  but  was  soon  exhausted,  and  almost  everj^ 
country  has  in  its  early  discovery  produced  gold. 
When  America  was  discovered,  £52,000,  equal 
to  $200,000,  was  sent  back  annually  for  the  first 
twentj^-five  years  ;  almost  all  of  this  was  gathered 
in  South  America.  For  the  last  100  years  very  little 
has  been  found  there.  Gold  was  found  in  the  early 
years  of  our  republic  in  North  Carolina  and  Georgia, 
and  a  branch  mint  was  established  at  Charlotte. 
Some  of  the  largest  nuggets  ever  found  anywhere  in 
the  world  were  found  there,  but  all  the  profitable  so 
called  mining  was  merely  the  collecting  of  free  gold 
from  placers.  When  thej^  were  exhausted  those 
states  becaine  unnoticeable  as  producers  of  gold. 
The  same  is  true  of  Virginia. 

When  the  great  gold  field  of  California  was 
discovered,  the  gravel  beds  were  dug  out,  the 
beds  of  the  rivers  were  scraped  and  the  dirt 
washed  in  a  pan  or  on  a  shovel,  and  the  free 
gold  collected,  and  in  such  quantities,  $65,000,000 
in  one  year,  as  to  lead  narrow  observers  to  believe 


92  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

gold  had  become  too  cheap  for  money,  and  on  the 
strength  of  the  calculations  of  Chevalier,  a  theorist, 
Germany  demonetized  gold  in  1857.  But  the  river 
bottoms  were  soon  cleaned  of  their  gold,  and  the 
gravel  beds  exhausted,  and  the  supply  of  that  state 
has  been  steadily  declining  since  ;  now  only  about 
$15,000,000  a  year,  $50,000,000  less  than  in  1857. 

The  Special  Commissioners  on  the  Mineral  Re- 
sources of  the  United  States,  in  their  report  in  1867, 
page  346,  say  :  "  The  vast  quantities  of  gold  pro- 
duced since  1848  are  mostly  from  placers — from  the 
detritus  of  auriferous  rocks.  These  surface  mines 
are  soon  exhausted.  In  California,  notwithstanding 
the  skillful  application  of  hydraulic  power,  the  pro- 
duction of  gold  by  gulch  or  placer  mining  has 
diminished  from  $60,000,000  in  1853  to  $20,000,000  in 
1866.  Except  for  new  discoveries,  and  some  success- 
ful enterprises  of  quartz  mining,  the  Australian 
supply  of  gold  would  have  likewise  diminished. 
Very  few  diggings  hold  a  mining  population  longer 
than  a  single  season.  The  *'  dust  of  gold  "  is  soon 
gathered.  It  may  be  admitted  that  Australia,  Si- 
beria, perhaps  the  sources  of  the  Zambesi  and  the 
Nile  in  Africa,  and  north-west  British  America  will, 
when  further  explored,  reveal  a  great  manj'^  districts 
where  the  surface  deposits  are  rich  and  accessible  ; 
but  each  will  be  in  turn  a  scene  of  great  excitement 
and  of  rapid  exhaustion,  and,  perhaps  before  the 
close  of  the  present  century,  alluvial  gold  mining 
will  be  almost  a  tradition.  This  tendency  is  so  ap- 
parent in  every  gold  producing  communitj'^  that 
public  attention  turns  constantly,  and  with  solici- 
tude, to  the  separation  of  gold  from  its  native  matrix 
of  rock  as  the  only  permanent  means  of  production. 


GOLD  SUPPLY.  93 

But  at  that  stage  silver  mining  conies  into  success- 
ful competition  with  all  existing  methods  for  the 
reduction  of  auriferous  rock." 

New  districts  in  our  great  territories  have  been 
explored  and  new  fields  discovered.  The  w^hole 
amount  now  gathered  is  about  $35,000,000  annually. 
Australia  w^as  new,  just  entered  in  1839,  and  gold 
was  found  in  1851,  and  great  quantities  were  gath- 
ered, but  the  supply  w^as  limited  and  no  gold  vein  for 
permanent  production  w^as  discovered.  The  gold 
was  in  placers  as  in  California.  Gold  was  found  in 
New"  Zealand  in  1856  in  placers,  as  in  Australia  and 
North  and  South  America.  The  great  Siberian  gold 
fields  are  w^holly  placers. 

The  gold  fields  of  South  Africa  were  known  in 
1866,  but  have  only  recently  come  into  production 
that  has  attracted  the  attention  of  the  commercial 
w^orld.  They  are  isolated  by  long  distances  through 
malarial  regions,  and  harassed  by  barbarous  tribes, 
and  their  extent  is  not  fully  known.  This,  however, 
is  true,  that  no  profitable  gold  mining  is  discovered 
in  a  settled  civilized  community  ;  that  no  gold 
region  has  continued  to  produce  through  long  per- 
iods, that  gold  is  found  in  newly  discovered  countries 
alone,  that  gold  is  picked  up  from  the  earth's  sur- 
face, and  has  not  been  greatlj^  increased  by  true 
mining.  As  the  world  is  nearly  all  explored  and  its 
mountains  and  streams  surve3^ed  and  mapped,  and 
their  geological  construction  examined,  for  even  the 
islands  of  the  seas  have  been  carefully  visited  by 
civilized  man  and  their  peculiarities  marked,  it  is 
reasonable  to  suspect  that  the  gold  of  the  world  is 
w^ell  nigh  gathered.  The  increase  of  product  last 
year  w^as   from  the   wilds    of   Africa. 


94  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

It  is  utterly  absurd  to  think  that  this  arti- 
ficial demand  created  for  gold  will  produce  a 
supply.  Will  we  scrape  out  the  rivers  again  and 
re-wash  the  gravels?  Will  we  invent  and  con- 
struct new  machines  for  the  reduction  of  hitherto 
refractory  gold  quartz  and  thus  supply  the 
demand  ?  Where  will  we  find  the  quartz  ?  There 
is  not  known,  and  never  has  been,  a  vein  of  quartz 
or  slates,  that  for  the  gold  alone,  aside  from  the 
silver,  would  pay  for  the  erection  of  such  a  modern 
plant  and  its  operation.  If  such  veins  exist,  scien- 
tists would  welcome  the  information,  and  geograph- 
ers  would   gladly  mark  their  localities. 

The  conclusion  is  irresistible  that  the  amount  of 
gold  in  the  world  must  not  only  grow  smaller  in 
proportion  to  the  world's  wealth,  but  that  it  must  soon 
begin  actually  to  diminish.  It  cannotnow  be  increas- 
ing. The  amount  produced  has  been  diminishing 
annuall}^  for  twenty  years,  w^hile  the  amount  con- 
sumed was  never  before  so  large,  and  is  increasing. 
Gold  has  always  been  used  in  dentistry.  It  has  been 
found  in  the  teeth  of  mummies  brought  from 
Thebes,  and  thousands  of  Egyptian  mummies  have 
been  found  treated  in  the  same  manner,  but  its 
use  has  greatly  increased  in  these  later  years  ; 
(Hist.,  Den.  &  Aral  Sur.  S.  S.  W.)  and  now 
15,000  dentists,  in  this  country  alone,  are  daily  dig- 
ging into  old  teeth,  and  burying  $5,000,000  of  gold 
each  year  that  has  no  resurrection.  Gold  rings 
and  gold  watches  are  worn  out  or  kept  as  heir- 
looms. Gold  plating  and  many  combinations  in  the 
laboratory  destroy  it.  Even  the  coins  wear  out.  The 
reason  given  why  gold  coin  is  always  exported  direct 
from    the    United    States    treasury   is  that   the  new 


GOLD  SUPPLY.  »5 

coins  are  of  full  weight,  vv^hile  those  which  have 
been  in  use  are  worn  ;  and  as  in  foreign  exchange 
they  are  always  taken  by  weight,  as  bullion,  there 
would  be  a  loss  from  the  ^vorn  coin.  If  production 
continues  to  decrease  and  the  consumption  con- 
tinues to  increase,  those  who  are  alive  at  the  close 
of  the  twentieth  century  will  find  gold  only  a  mem- 
ory. The  grandmother's  wedding  ring  and  the 
grandfather's  gold  -watch  may  be  invaluable. 

The  amount  of  gold  in  the  -world  is  far  less  than 
usually  thought.  The  highest  estimate  of  the  pro- 
duction in  this  century  is  8,000  tons,  and  the  amount 
remaining  from  the  preceding  centuries  2,000  tons, 
making  10,000  tons  in  all.  The  amount  consumed  in 
the  arts  is  estimated  variously  from  one-fourth  to 
three-fifths — call  it  but  one-fourth,  and  we  have  re- 
maining 8,000  tons.  One  cubic  foot  of  gold  -weighs 
1,200  lbs.,  and  8,000  tons  is  16,000,000  lbs.,  this  makes 
13,333  cubic  blocks,  and  these  piled  up  make  a  pile 
30x25x20  feet,  the  size  of  a  small  house,  not  so  large 
as  a  farmer's  horse  barn.  This  is  not  at  all  likely  to 
increase.  The  production  is  decreasing  -while  con- 
sumption is  increasing.  This  is  the  size  of  the  lump 
of  yellow  metal  upon  which  the  growing  commerce 
of  the  enlarging  civilized  -world  is  endeavoring  to 
balance  its  monetary  interests. 

The  most  of  this,  however,  is  piled  up  in  the  Bank 
of  England,  -where  the  reserves  of  all  the  banks  of 
England  are  kept.  This  bank  is  an  independent 
corporation,  not  inspected  by  nor  compelled  to  ren- 
der an  account  to  the  English  Government.  The 
Board  of  Directors  is  composed  of  twenty-six  mem- 
bers, -who  elect  their  o-wn  successors  and  thus  are 
entirely  independent.     In  this   Board   are   represen- 


96  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

tatives  of  the  Rothschilds,  who  are  regarded  tech- 
nically as  capitalists,  and  placed  in  this  position  of 
power  above  the  common  bankers,  who  are  not  eli- 
gible to  the  position  of  a  Director.  This  Board  pre- 
siding over  this  pile  of  gold  has  more  influence  on 
the  commercial  world  than  the  British  Parliament, 
and  their  acts  affect  more  seriously  the  destiny  of 
the  people  of  the  United  Kingdom  and  of  the  world. 
It  is  wrell  understood  that  William  was  held  on  the 
throne  and  that  the  Whigs  were  held  in  power  by 
this  bank.  The  fascinating  story  of  the  establish- 
ment of  this  Bank,  as  told  b}''  Macaulay,  is  familiar 
to  all  students  of  English  History,  and  now  the 
destiny  of  the  Kingdom  is  more  in  its  hands  than 
ever.  The  Directors  are  carefully  watched  and  their 
meetings  are  of  great  importance.  They  meet  once 
a  week  at  11:30  a.  m.  Their  usual  session  is  about 
two  hours.  If  the}^  should  remain  longer,  reporters 
would  begin  to  gather  around  the  doors  to  catch  the 
first  hint  of  what  unusual  was  occupying  their  at- 
tention, and  if  they   should   remain  in   session  four 

hours  there  would  be  a  financial  panic  ;  so  delicately 
are  the  commercial  interests  of  the  world  now 
balanced  on  this  narrow  base,  and  controlled  by  an 
independent  Board.  This  Board  is  composed  of 
men,  not  angels,  and  they  act  like  men  for  their  own 
and  their  own  country's  \velfare. 

Is  it  the  part  of  an  independent  and  free  people 
to  permit  our  financial  interests  to  be  thus  imper- 
iled ?  While  a  good  Providence  had  given  us  the 
silver  to  free  us  from  the  domination  of  gold,  and 
which  practically  enal)led  us  to  control  the  silver 
trade  of  the  world,  we  threw  away  our  opportunit3^ 
and  bowed  before  this  idol.  Now  that  our  mistake 
is  clearly  seen,  it  is  certainly  the  part  of  wisdom  to 
restore  again  silver  to  its  proper  place,  the  place 
which  it  has  held  as  money  in  all  history. 


SUPPLY  OF  SILVER.  97 


SUPPLY  OF  SILVER. 

ARTICLE    XI. 

Silver  is  mined.  There  is  no  free  silver  lying  over 
the  earth's  surface  to  be  picked  up,  though  some- 
times blocks  of  a  100  lbs.  weight  or  more,  quite  pure, 
are  found  imbedded  in  the  silver  bearing  quartz.  vSil- 
ver  has  been  produced  the  world  over,  and  from 
mines  that  hav^e  been  worked  for  ages.  Yet  silver 
has  rapidly  disappeared  when  the  mines  failed. 
When  the  Attica  mines  failed,  silver  soon  became 
scarce  in  Greece,  and  Solon  reduced  the  size  of  the 
drachma  one-third.  In  the  years  of  the  Antonines, 
Rome  had  £380,000,000  in  money,  yet  400  years  later 
this  was  reduced  to  £46,000,000,  and  the  silver  coins 
were  reduced  one-half  in  weight.  All  the  rest  was 
lost  or  consumed.  At  the  time  of  the  discovery  of 
America,  the  supply  of  precious  metals  was  very 
low.  The  American  Kncylopedia  sa3^s  that  the  com- 
bined value  of  the  gold  and  silver  was  not  to  exceed 
£34,000,000,  or  $170,000,000  in  all  the  world,  and  com- 
mercial and  financial  distress  was  everywhere. 
Since  that  time  reliable  approximate  estimates  have 
been  made.  Von  Humboldt,  than  whom  there  is  no 
higher  authority,  estimated  that  the  whole  product 
of  silver  in  the  world  from  the  Discovery  ol  America 
to  the  opening  of  the  present  century  was  $4,356,- 
000,000. 

The  production  of  silver  during  this  centur3%  ac- 
cording to  Dawson,  who  estimates  from  1800  to  1848, 
and  of  Prof.  \V.  P.  Blake  in  his  "  Report  on  the  Pro- 
7 


98  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

duction  of  the  Precious  Metals,"  from  1848  to  1868,  and 
of  the  Reports  of  the  Mints  to  the  present,  has  been 
$4,000,000,000  more.  The  grand  total  of  the  world's 
product  for  the  past  400  years  is  about  $8,350,000,000. 
But  out  of  this  the  world  has  been  consuming  for 
all  these  400  years.  Rome  consumed  £325,000.000  in 
that  period  when  the  world  was  small  and  commerce 
meagre.  The  first  $4,000,000,000  was  mostly  trans- 
ported to  Europe  to  meet  the  famine  for  precious 
metals  there  prevailing,  and  so  needing  it  that  it 
required  lift}'  years  to  make  a  noticeable  rise  in 
prices.  It  is  safe  to  deduct  as  consumed,  $3,350,000,000, 
leaving  as  the  present  value  at  the  ratio  of  sixteen 
to  one,  $5,000,000,000,  and  this  is  a  liberal  estimate  of 
the  world's  supply  to-day. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  how  the  great  productive 
district  moved  northward  until  it  w^as  in  the  United 
States.  For  the  first  300  years  after  the  discovery  of 
America,  the  mass  of  the  world's  product  was  from 
Peru  and  Mexico,  $1,100,000,000,  and  $200,000,000  pro- 
duced in  all  the  rest  of  the  world.  No  silver  was  as 
yet  produced  north  of  Mexico.  From  1800  to  1848 
Peru  and  Mexico  produced  $1,244,000,000,  and  Europe 
and  Asiatic  Russia  $325,000,000  ;  nothing  yet  north  of 
Mexico.  From  1848  to  1868  the  production  of  silver 
in  the  United  States  is  first  noted.  Peru  and  Mexico 
$380,000,000,  the  United  States  $73,000,000,  Australia 
$20,000,  Europe  and  Asiatic  Russia  $160,000,000.  From 
1868  to  1873,  the  United  States  takes  the  lead  with 
$162,000,000.  Mexico  $140,000,000,  South  America 
$56,000,000,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  world  but  $62,000,000. 
In  the  particular  year  1873,  w^hen  silver  was  demon- 
etized, the  United  States  came  easily  to  lead  all  the 
world  in  this  product.     The  following  estimates  are 


SUPPLY  OF  SILVER.  99 

from  the  best  available  accounts  from  all  the  coun- 
tries named  :  Great  Britain  and  Colonies,  $1,000,000; 
Sweden  and  Norvva3%  $250,000  ;  Russia,  $500,000  ; 
Austria  Hungar3%  $1,600,000  ;  German  Kmpire,  $3,- 
000,000  ;  France,  $2,000,000  ;  Spain,  $2,000,000  ;  Italy 
$500,000  ;  Mexico,  $20,000,000  ;  Central  and  South 
America,  $8,000,000  ;  Canada, $900,000  ;  and  the  United 
States  the  grand  lead  of  $36,000,000.  That  year  should 
have  been  regarded  with  pride  and  comfort. 

Since  1873  to  the  present,  w^e  have  produced  $900,- 
000,000.  In  one  year,  1878,  producing  $95,000,000,  the 
highest  ever  attained.  The  lead  in  this  product  is 
easily  with  us  now. 

From  the  beginning  of  our  existence  as  a  nation 
to  the  year  1850,  we  bought  and  imported  silver  for 
our  coinage,  $25,000,000.  A  silver  mine  would  then 
have  been  regarded  as  a  great  national  blessing. 
During  the  same  period  we  had  coined  $100,(X)0,000 
in  gold.  From  1850  to  1873  we  coined  $750,000,000  of 
gold,  and  about  $100,000,000  of  silver.  From  1873  to 
1893  gold  has  decreased  twent^^-five  per  cent,  in  pro. 
duct,  while  we  have  the  grand  lead  in  the  production 
of  silver  ;  but  silver  is  demonetized  and  as  money 
is  of  no  more  value  than  paper. 

Silver  through  the  ages  has  held  a  variable  ratio 
to  gold.  M.  Leon  Foucher  sa3's  silver. in  the  verj'- 
early  ages  was  sometimes  vi'orth  more  than  gold. 
In  Egypt,  in  the  age  of  The  Menes,  the  ratio  was 
21/2  to  1  ;  500  B.  C,  the  ratio  was  6  to  1  ;  in  the  time 
of  Xenophon  10  to  1  ;  in  the  sixteenth  century  11  to  1  ; 
in  the  seventeenth  century  16  to  1  ;  the  eighteenth 
century  14  to  1  ;  the  nineteenth  century  the  author- 
ized ratio  over  Europe  15V2  to  1,  in  the  United  States 
since  1834,  16  to  1.     This  ratio  holds  the  metals  as 


100  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

about  equal  in  value  in  the  average  of  a  long  period 
of  100  years.  Silver  w^as  worth  more  than  gold  by 
this  ratio,  the  larger  part  of  this  century  but  would 
have  closed  about  equal  had  there  been  no  adverse 
laws. 

There  is  no  reason  to  suspect  that  this  temporary 
output  can  be  continued.  The  mines  in  Attica,  in 
Potosi,  and  in  the  Sierra  Morena  Mountains,  and  in 
Valenciana,  and  thousands  of  others,  have  become 
exhausted  without  causing  a  surplus.  Take  the 
world's  silver  to-day,  130,000  tons,  one  cubic  foot  of 
silver  w^eighs  656  lbs.,  and  the  number  of  cubic  feet 
is  in  round  numbers  400,000.  These  if  placed  in  a 
rectangular  heap  w^ould  make  a  solid  pile  200  feet 
long,  100  feet  wide  and  twenty  feet  high,  and  would 
represent  in  value,  at  the  ratio  of  16  to  1,  about 
$5,000,000,000,  about  equal  to  the  world's  heap  of 
gold.  The  two  together,  $10,000,0CX),000,  the  whole 
metallic  base  of  the  two  precious  metals  for  the 
whole  world's  commercial  transactions. 

While  the  center  of  the  gold  pile  is  in  the  Bank 
of  England  in  Lombard  Street,  the  center  of  the 
silver  interests  would  remain  with  us,  not  from  any 
effort  or  intrigue  on  our  part,  but  because  "God  and 
Nature  hath  put  it  in  our  power."  This  could  be 
used  to  steady  the  monetary  world  and  protect  our- 
selves and  all  mankind  against  financial  oppression. 

If  it  were  possible  to  gather  together  all  the  silver 
we  have  produced,  and  offer  it  for  coinage,  and  it 
should  be  changed  into  money,  it  would  add  nearly 
$1,000,000,000  to  our  currency';  or  it  would  replace  the 
350,000,000  greenbacks  for  which  there  is  no  metallic 
base,  and  never  was  any  except  the  government 
credit,  and  would  replace  the  $125,000,000  bank  note 


SUPPLY  OF  SILVER.  101 

circulation  based  on  the  government  credit,  and  also 
supply  the  $400,000,000  the  National  Banks  are  now 
authorized  to  issue  but  will  not,  and  every  dollar  of 
the  currency  would  have  the  metallic  basis,  so 
anxiously  sought  for,  during  the  j^ears  immediately'' 
following  the  close  of  the  civil  war,  but  the  antici- 
pated benefits  of  which  w^ere  utterl}^  destroyed  by 
the  act  of  1873. 

While  our  silver  would  accomplish  this,  if  retain- 
ed w^ith  us,  -we  have  one-half  the  world's  suppl}^  but 
we  have  only  about  one-eighth  of  the  whole  world's 
wealth.  We  cannot  retain  all  we  produce. 
The  nations  must  come  bending  to  us  for  the 
purchase  of  our  silver,  upon  which  we  can 
place  the  price  of  16  to  1  of  gold,  and  there  is  no 
avoiding  the  payment  of  the  price.  We  have  a 
corner  on  the  metal.  Can  w^e  not  see  our  advantage? 
Silver  is  not  filling  the  world.  There  is  no  silver  to 
come  here  from  Europe.  There  is  less  in  Europe  than 
they  need.     Will  they  ship  coals  to  Newcastle  ? 


102  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 


MINES  AND  PROSPERITY. 

ARTICLE    XII. 

There  is  a  coincidence  in  the  rise  and  fall  of 
mining  interests  with  the  rise  and  decline  of  pros- 
perity and  power  among  the  historic  nations  that 
may  well  receive  our  careful  and  thoughtful  study. 
This  coincidence  indicates  a  law  constant  in  its 
operation  through  the  ages.  If  the  reasons  are  diffi- 
cult to  find,  the  facts  of  history  cannot  be  success- 
fully denied.  The  student  of  sacred  history  cannot 
fail  to  note  that  the  glory  of  Israel  under  Solomon, 
in  that  period  of  grandeur  to  which  the  Hebrew 
mind  always  turns  as  the  acme  of  earthly  greatness, 
was  due  to  Ophir,  from  which  gold  and  silver  ■^\'ere 
gathered  until  the}"  l)ecame  common  in  the  streets 
of  Jerusalem.  When  that  source  of  w^ealth  was  ex- 
hausted the  taxes  became  burdensome,  and  a  spirit 
of  discontent  took  possession  of  the  people,  and  they 
were  loud  in  their  complaining,  but  did  not  dare  to 
rebel  during  his  powerful  reign  ;  but  he  was  scarcely 
in  his  grave  until  Ephraim  with  the  ten  tribes  arose 
and  resisted,  and  the  Kingdom  became  divided  and 
the  glorj^  of  Israel  departed  forever. 

The  Athenian  power  arose  contemporary  with  the 
successful  working  of  the  Laurian  silver  mines  on 
the  promontory  of  Attica,  which  were  supposed  ex- 
hausted before  the  Christian  era,  but  have  recently 
been  revived  by  private  parties,  in  1863,  and  operated 
with  such  success  that  they  were  reclaimed  by  Mod- 
ern Greece  in  1873.     These  mines  fitted  out  the  naval 


MINES  AND  PROSPERITY.  103 

force  of  Themistocles,  and  enabled  him  to  meet  the 
enemy  by  sea  and  land.  Xenophon  says  that  these 
mines  were  continually  increased,  as  new  spots  of 
ore  -were  from  time  to  time  discovered,  and  that  this 
gift  of  heaven  was  in  Attica  alone.  The  silver  was 
current  in  commerce  everywhere,  and  while  the 
supply  came  from  the  mines  in  the  mountains,  their 
trade  was  large  with  every  land,  but  when  the  mines 
began  to  fail  and  the  coin  drained  awa3^  her  suprem- 
acy began  to  decline,  and  when  these  resources 
failed  utterly,  her  power  vanished. 

The  ascendancy  of  the  Roman  Empire  was  made 
possible  by  the  mines  they  w^orked  along  the  Pyr- 
enees and  in  several  provinces  touching  the  Alps, 
so  that  the  Kmpire  expanded,  and  her  vast  enter- 
prises w^ere  made  possible.  The  greatest  wealth 
was  the  period  of  greatest  prosperity.  The  Roman 
Empire  practically  covered  the  world  ;  then  her 
mines  were  neglected  and  abandoned,  the  most 
were  exhausted,  and  for  centuries  there  was  no  ap- 
preciable addition  to  the  precious  metals.  The  coins 
Avere  worn  away,  or  lost,  or  hidden,  or  consumed, 
until  not  over  one-eighth  of  the  former  amount  re- 
mained. This  contraction  paralyzed  ever}^  enter- 
prise. The  revenues  failed,  because  neither  debts 
nor  taxes  could  be  paid.  This  destroyed  the  armies. 
Alchemists  struggled  to  transmute  the  baser  into 
the  precious  metals,  but  without  success.  They 
sought  diligently,  but  in  vain,  for  the  philosopher's 
stone  that  should  transform  whatever  it  touched  into 
gold.  The  people  lost  their  ambition  and  energy 
and  hope,  and  the  world  sank  into  the  coinmercial 
torpor  and  intellectual  and  moral  sleep  of  the  dark 
ages.      vThis    is    well    and    fully    expressed    by    Mr. 


104  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

Franklin  H.  Head  in  a  recent  article,  as  follows  : — 

"  Concerning  the  disaster  following  a  contraction 
of  currenc3%  and  the  beneficent  effect  of  its  expan- 
sion, history  offers  instructive  lessons.  Allison  has 
shown  that  the  two  most  momentous  epochs  in  the 
histor}'  of  the  human  race  and  its  civilization,  the 
fall  of  the  Roman  Empire  and  the  birth  of  the  modern 
civilization,  are  the  direct  results  of  the  contraction 
and  expansion  of  the  circulating  medium.  The 
power  of  Rome  was  the  greatest  in  the  age  of  the 
Antonines,  when  the  victories  of  her  legions,  and 
the  w^isdom  of  the  Emperors  had  given  peace  and 
security  to  120,000,000  of  people,  embracing  the  great- 
er proportion  of  the  then  known  world.  At  this  time 
the  gold  and  silver  coinage  of  the  Empire  amounted 
to  £ 380,000, fXX).  Simultaneously  with  this  imperial 
dominion,  when  the  Roman  civilization  had  absorb- 
ed into  itself,  and  made  its  own,  the  achievements 
of  all  the  foregone  ages  and  peoples,  and  when 
almost  universal  peace  seemed  to  assure  to  the 
Empire  a  career  of  unending  progress  and  glory, 
came  the  exhaustion  of  the  mines  of  Spain  and 
Greece,  whence  had  come  the  principal  supplies  of 
the  precious  metals  for  the  ancient  world.  By  the 
time  of  the  Emperor  Justinian,  from  abrasion  and 
loss,  and  from  exportation  of  coin  to  Africa  and  the 
Orient,  in  settlement  of  trade  balances,  the  coin  in 
circulation  was  reduced  to  a  nominal  value  of  £80,- 
000,000,  although  for  purposes  of  comparison  it  was 
really  about  £46,000,000;  the  golden  aureus — its  debt- 
paying  value  remaining  the  same — having  been  re- 
duced from  118  grains  in  weight  to  68  grains.  This 
indicates  a  total  reduction  in  the  currenc}^  to  nearly 
one-eighth  its  former  volume.  During  the  period  of 
contraction  the  prices  of  labor  and  commodities  had 
shrunk  substantially^  in  the  same  ratio,  since  there 
was  no  proportionate  reduction  in  population  or  the 
number  of  transactions  ;  and,  as  a  result,  the  press- 
ure of  debts  and  taxes  became  so  overwhelming 
that    national    industries    were    ruined,    agriculture 


MINES  AND  PROSPERITY.  105 

was  prostrated,  and  labor  unrewarded  ;  revenues 
were  irrecoverable,  and  the  famed  legions  dwindled 
to  battalions,  and  battalions  to  cohorts,  wretchedly 
paid,  and,  therefore  largel}'  recruited  from  the 
swarms  of  tramps  who  infested  and  dominated  the 
imperial  cit3^  No  language  can  exaggerate  the 
wretchedness  of  the  Roman  people,  brought  on  by 
the  contraction  of  their  currenc}^  of  their  consequent 
loss  of  public  spirit  and  patriotism  which  rendered 
the  destruction  of  the  Empire  an  eas}^  task  for  the 
northern  barbarians.  After  the  destrvxction  of  the 
Empire  came  the  long  period  of  intellectual  and 
moral  night.  No  increase  was  inade  for  ages  in  the 
production  of  the  precious  metals,  and  the  dawn  of 
modern  civilization  came  only  after  the  voyage  of 
-Columbus  had  opened  the  mines  of  Mexico  and  Peru 
to  European  enterprise.  The  production  of  the 
precious  metals  was  at  once  trebled  ;  the  prices  of 
all  commodities  were  correspondingly  increased  ; 
learning,  the  arts,  industries  and  commerce  revived 
with  the  influx  of  gold  and  silver  ;  and  the  dawn 
thus  heralded  led  on  to  the  effulgent  glories  of  the 
present  age,  to  the  crowning  triumphs  thus  far  made 
by  man  over  the  forces  of  nature. 

It  has  been  common  to  refer  the  fall  of  the  Roman 
Empire  to  its  vast  extension,  to  internal  corruption, 
and  to  slavery,  but  it  \vas  most  prosperous  and  en- 
lightened when  its  territorial  area  was  greatest  ;  it 
was  no  more  corrupt  than  400  years  before,  when 
Sallust  waxed  eloquent  over  the  decadence  of  public 
morals  ;  and  slavery  was  not  confined  to  Rome  in 
that  age,  but  was  universal.  It  was  not  the  lack  of 
bravery  in  the  depleted  legions,  but  the  lack  of 
means  efficiently  to  maintain  them,  which  led  to  the 
extinguishment  of  Roman  civilization.  Similarly, 
it  is  to  the  revival  of  classical  learning  that  the 
Renaissance  is  most  often  attributed,  but  this  is  an 
effect  and  not  a  cause  ;  the  cause  was  the  increase 
of  rnone}^  and  in  the  prices  for  labor  and  commod- 
ities,   which    freed    mankind    from    the    bondage  of 


106  THESE  HARD  TIMES, 

universal  povertj",  and  allowed  their  thoughts,  am- 
bitions, and  efforts  to  rise  to  the  loftier  fields  of 
human  achievement." 

Pliny  says  Hannibal  received  300  lbs.  silver  daily 
from  mines  in  Spain  at  Guadalconal  in  the  province 
of  Cordova.  He  tunneled  IV2  niiles  into  the  moun- 
tains, and  while  he  held  and  operated  them  with 
success,  his  power  did  not  fail.  This  explains  the 
secret  in  his  brilliant  history'  that  otherwise  is  not 
easy  to  understand.  Those  mines  have  long  been 
exhausted. 

The  real  greatness  of  Spaiti  began  with  the  mar- 
riage of  Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  with  Isabella  of 
Castile  in  1479  ;  the  Alhambra  was  taken  in  1492  and 
the  Saracen  power  that  had  held  control  for  seven 
centuries  came  to  an  end  forever,  and  for  a  centurj^ 
the  star  of  Spain  was  in  the  ascendant. 

Coincident  was  the  discovery  of  America  by  Co- 
lumbus in  1492,  who  had  been  fitted  out  by  the 
Queen's  pledged  jewels,  so  poor  was  the  kingdom. 
This  brought  in  inore  precious  metals  than  had 
been  added  to  the  commerce  of  the  w^orld  for  a  thou- 
sand years,  rated  by  Humboldt  at  £52,000  sterling 
per  year  in  the  following  twenty-five  years.  Then 
came  the  constant  stream  of  silver  and  gold  that  for 
300  years  was  ec^ual  to  three  times  the  product  of  all 
the  old  world.  Then  began  the  revival  of  hope  and 
learning,  and  letters  and  virtue.  The  darkness  of 
the  ages  began  to  disappear  and  a  brighter  day  be- 
gan to  dawn.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  riches  of  the 
new  world,  the  ignorance,  poverty  and  vice  of  the 
old  world  would  have  been  continued. 

The  awakening  in  this  centurj'  has  also  been  co- 
incident with  the  largest  production  of  the   precious 


MINES  AND  PROSPERITY.  107 

metals.  The  settlement  of  Australia  and  New  Zea- 
land, and  the  discovery  of  their  gold  in  1851  and  1856, 
and  the  marvelous  development  of  the  gold  mining 
in  California  seemed  fabulous.  The  race  had  never 
experienced  the  like  before,  and  the  rush  forward  in 
every  line  of  human  achievement  has  been  without 
a  parallel  in  all  history.  Gladstone  has  said  that  the 
first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  produced  more 
for  human  welfare  than  all  the  preceding  centuries 
of  the  Christian  era  ;  and  that  the  first  twenty-five 
years  of  the  second  half  produced  more  than  the  first 
fifty  years. 

The  most  rapid  progress  and  the  greatest  attain- 
ments are  in  our  own  country,  where  the  richest  and 
most  permanent  mines  have  been  worked.  The 
product  of  gold  decreased,  but  the  product  of  silver 
was  so  great  as  to  nearly  or  quite  keep  the  ag- 
gregate product  up  to  the  average  of  the  best  decade. 
Our  mining  interests  were  the  strength  of  our  ar- 
mies in  the  civil  war,  and  gave  us  credit  when  other- 
wise we  should  have  been  prostrate. 

After  the  war  we  were  paying  our  debt  with  a 
rapidity  that  surprised  all  Europe,  but  in  the  height 
of  this  prosperity,  when  we  were  the  principal  pro- 
ducers of  silver,  fifty-seven  per  cent.,  and  also  pro- 
duced one-fourth  of  the  world's  gold,  by  our  own  act 
the  silver  mining  interests  were  paralyzed.  The  ex- 
pensive machinery  was  left  to  rust  and  crumble. 
Such  has  not  been  the  policy  toward  their  mines  of 
any  historic  government.  The  mining  interests 
were  guarded.  All  mining  property  of  coal  and  ircn 
and  common  metals  were  usually  owned  by  private 
parties,  but  mines  of  silver  and  gold  were  the  prop- 
erty  of  the   State.     This   was   true   of  the   mines  of 


108  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

Britain  until  the  time  of  William  and  Mary.  It  has 
always  been  the  policy  to  defend  and  protect  them, 
as  they  are  the  point  of  attack  and  the  desired  objects 
of  possession  by  an  enemy.  This  is  true  from  the 
time  of  Shalmaneser,  who  looted  the  rich  cities  of 
the  plain,  but  whose  chief  object  was  the  mines  or 
sources  of  the  precious  metals  in  the  regions  south 
and  west,  which  Straub  said  formerly,  but  not  now, 
produced  these  metals,  down  to  this  day  when  the 
speck  of  war  in  Africa  is  over  the  gold  mines,  made 
more  profitable  b3'  the  effort  to  exalt  gold  as  the  only 
base  of  values  for  the  whole  world. 

Such  an  anomaly  as  a  nation  not  fostering  and 
prizing  and  defending  its  own  mines  of  the  precious 
metals  has  been  reserved  for  us  to  present. 

The  government  struck  a  suicidal  blow  against 
herself  when  she  demonetized  silver  and  closed  the 
mines  of  the  Rock}^  Mountains.  Thej^  should  have 
been  protected  and  encouraged.  If  the  history  of 
other  nations  is  i)rophetic  of  ours,  our  decline  will 
be  dated  from  the  decline  and  fall  of  our  mining  in- 
terests. Have  we  entered  on  our  decline  ?  and  have 
we  set  the  date  of  that  decline  bv  our  own  act  ? 


PROFITS  OF  MINING.  109 


PROFITS  OF  MINING. 

ARTICLE    XIII. 

The  profits  of  mining  either  silver  or  gold  or  both 
are  greatly  exaggerated.  There  are  occasionally^ 
great  gains,  but  there  are  also  constant  losses.  The 
deposits  of  both  metals  are  limited,  and  often  sud- 
denly become  exhausted  after  great  preparations 
have  been  made  for  mining  operation.  No  gold  vein, 
profitable  to  work  a  long  period  for  the  gold  alone, 
has  ever  been  found.  For  the  silver,  and  what  gold 
is  connected  with  it,  veins  have  been  worked  with 
varying  success  for  ages.  Mining,  however,  is  much 
like  a  lotter3\  There  are  great  prizes  but  many 
blanks.  The  occasional  great  prize  lures  the  miner 
on  and  fascinates  him.  The  losses  are  not  reported. 
Many  think  more  money  has  been  spent  than  gained, 
that  there  is  on  the  w^hole,  a  loss  to  the  world  on  all 
the  precious  metals  produced.  The  report  of  the 
Commissioners  on  Mining,  1867,  page  53,  says  : 

"Auriferous  quartz  lodes  having  paying  quantities 
of  metal  occur  only  in  spots  or  streaks.  The  law  of 
the  distribution  of  the  precious  metals  in  veins  is  yet 
unknown.  The  quartz  may  be  traced  for  miles,  but 
only  here  and  there  it  will  pay  to  work.  No  mineral 
lode  anywhere  is  worked,  I  believe,  with  tnuch  profit 
for  more  than  two  continuous  miles,  and  it  is  seldom 
that  the  pay-rock  extends  more  than  1000  feet  along 
a  vein.  The  great  quartz  lode  of  Mariposa,  called 
sometimes  the  mother  vein  of  California,  has  been 
traced,  it  is  supposed,  for  thirty  miles  or  more  ;  at 
least  croppings  of  a  large  lead  of  the  same  quantity 
or  quartz,  nearly  in  a  straight  line,  are  seen  at  vari- 


110  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

ous  points  between  Bear  Valley  in  Mariposa  county, 
and  Angels,  in  Calaveras  county  ;  and  it  is  assumed 
that  these  croppings  all  belong  to  the  same  lode.  In 
some  places  this  vein  is  very  rich,  but  the  rich  spots 
are  not  long,  and  are  far  apart,  and  in  the  intervals 
the  rock  is  nearly  or  entirely  barren.  The  miner 
may  find  quartz  containing  $10  to  the  ton,  and  he 
knows  if  the  supply  is  abundant  he  may  make  a 
fortune  from  his  claim  ;  but  to  explore  the  lode  re- 
quires a  large  capital,  and  there  is  no  certainty  of  a 
return.  The  rock  is  too  poor  to  work  without  a  mill, 
and  there  is  not  enough  in  sight  to  justify  the  erec- 
tion of  a  mill.  If  he  takes  the  risk  and  the  pay- 
rock  is  soon  exhausted,  his  mill,  in  that  position, 
becomes  w^orthless,  and  he  loses  the  cost  of  all  his 
frame-work,  roads,  and  ditches,  which  with  the 
transportation  is  frequently  greater  than  the  cost  of 
the  machinery  proper. 

There  is  again,  a  great  diversity  in  the  facilities 
for  quartz  mining  at  different  places.  The  farmer 
or  the  manufacturer  usually  goes  into  a  level  coun- 
try with  open  roads,  and  after  ascertaining  the  dis- 
tance to  the  market  and  the  cost  of  transportation 
he  can  decide  whether  he  can  afford  to  go  into  busi- 
ness. Perhaps  he  would  find  fifty  places  within  a 
range  of  ten  miles,  all  equally  good  for  his  farm  oi 
his  factory.  But  with  the  miner  the  case  is  differ- 
ent. The  mines  are  usually  found  in  the  mountains, 
"where  there  are  no  roads,  water  is  not  conveniently 
accessible  and  wood  is  scarce.  The  rock  in  one  part 
of  the  lode  is  hard,  in  another  soft  ;  in  one  there  is 
much  sulphuret  of  iron,  in  another  little.  It  is  rel- 
atively cheaper  to  work  a  wide  streak  of  pay-rock, 
other  things  being  equal,  than  a  narrow  one.  The 
mill  may  be  far  or  near  ;  it  may  be  above  the  level 
of  the  mine,  or  below  it  ;  the  water  for  washing  the 
pulverized  rock  may  be  obtainable  for  only  part  of 
the  year." 

There  are  improved   mining  machines,    but   the 

expenses  are  so  much  the  greater  and  the  losses  so 


PROFITS  OF  MINING.  Ill 

much  more  severe,  that  the  grain  is  but  Httle  in  the 
aggregate.  The  veins  are  mostly  located  in  all  but 
inaccessible  localities  and  roads  and  railroads,  if 
extensive,  must  be  made,  and  then  after  reduction 
works  have  been  erected  at  infinite  pains,  the  vein 
may  prove  too  poor  to  work,  or  the  ores  become  re- 
fractory and  resist  the  kno^v^n  methods,  or  the  pocket 
be  disappointingly  limited,  and  often  the  plant  itself 
is  unsafe  from  the  verj'-  wildness  of  the  surround- 
ings. The  product  of  the  quartz  mines  of  the  West 
were  found  by  the  commissioners  to  be  about  three 
dollars  per  day  per  man  employed,  while  the  placer 
mines  of  Carolina  and  Georgia  yielded  only  from 
ninety  cents  to  two  dollars  per  day.  When  the  diffi- 
culties are  carefully  studied  and  the  small  average 
profits  are  noted,  the  mining  industry  as  an  occu- 
pation does  not  look  attractive.  A  great  fortune 
may  be  gained,  but  the  proliability  is  unspeakably 
greater  that  both  capital  and  labor  will  be  lost. 


112  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 


EFFECT  ON  CHARACTER. 

ARTICLE    XIV. 

The  effect  of  this  depreciation  of  property  and 
falling  values  is  unfortunate  to  the  last  degree  in 
its  effects  upon  the  character  of  the  people. 

The  spirit  of  enterprise  is  destroyed  by  it.  No 
man  is  willing  to  engage  in  a  new  undertaking 
when  he  has  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  prices 
on  which  he  bases  his  estimates  of  success  are  un- 
stable. He  will  not  invest  in  a  manufacturing 
plant  that  will  be  Tvorth  less  than  the  cost.  The 
money  must  be  worth  more  in  the  plant  than  in  the 
vault,  or  there  is  no  object  in  its  construction.  He 
can  estimate  the  cost  of  his  goods  to-day,  but  there 
is  no  assurance  that  he  can  secure  the  prices  of  to- 
day when  they  come  upon  the  market  in  the  future. 
This  depreciation  has  also  made  customers  unre- 
liable, so  that  great  caution  is  required  in  the  sale 
of  goods.  They  must  now  be  sold  on  short  time  and 
to  responsible  parties.  It  is  not  safe  for  either  a 
manufacturer  or  a  dealer  to  have  a  large  stock  of  any 
line  of  goods.  Only  a  hand  to  mouth  trade  is  safe. 
A  man  who  has  the  money  and  wishes  to  buy  a 
farm,  will  not  purchase  on  a  declining  market.  He 
can  keep  his  money  in  his  stocking  until  another 
year,  and  buy  a  better  farm.  A  man  with  $10,000 
ten  years  ago,  which  he  Tvished  to  invest  in  a  farm, 
kept  it  in  his  strong  box  until  now^.  He  can  no\^ 
buy  two  farms  with  the  same  money,  each  of  which 
is  equal  to  the  one  farm  he  might   have  bought  ten 


EFFECT  ON  CHARACTER.  113 

years  ago.     Had  he  invested,  there  would  have  been 
to  him  a  positive   loss   of  one   farm. 

The  man  who  bought  a  farm  for  $10,000  ten  years 
ago,  and  paid  the  half,  $5,000,  and  secured  the  rest  by 
mortgages,  after  struggling  these  ten  3'ears  to  pay 
the  interest  upon  this  and  keep  up  the  improve- 
ments, now  finds  he  has  given  away  his  $5,000,  and 
has  given  also  the  labor  of  ten  j^ears  and  yet  owes 
for  all  his  farm  to-day.  He  could  buy  it,  or  an- 
other equal,  for  the  amount  remaining  unpaid.  This 
is  so  true  in  all  the  productive  industries  that  men 
will  not  buy,  they  will  not  build,  and  they  will  only 
operate  in  a  limited  and  guarded  way.  The  spirit 
of  enterprise  is  being  crushed  out.  The  most  useful 
and  pushing  men  in  the  communities  are  those  that 
are  suffering.  The  money  lenders,  not  the  money 
users  who  make  it  productive,  are  the  favored  in 
these  times. 

Industrious  habits  are  not  encouraged.  There 
must  be  hope  of  reward.  There  may  be  industry 
and  slight  reward,  but  when  the  diligent  and  labo- 
rious work  day  by  day  brings  no  return  to  the  work- 
man, the  spirit  of  the  slave  is  begotten  and  indolence 
follows. 

These  times  of  depreciation  are  destroying  thrift. 
The  want  of  this  grace  has  been  charged  against 
a  certain  class  of  drinking  workingmen  for 
years,  but  these  times  have  discouraged  those  who 
were  struggling  to  accumulate  property  and  secure 
a  home  and  a  competence  for  declining  years.  In 
all  our  cities  we  find  a  class  of  intelligent  and  worthy 
people,  who,  encouraged  by  the  offers  of  building 
associations,  bought  homes  of  their  own  on  weekly 
or  monthly  payments,  and  were  saving  all  they  pos- 

8 


Ill  THESE  HARD  TIXES. 

siblj  could  to  meet  those  payments.  They  dressed 
plainly  and  deprived  their  tables  of  every  luxury 
that  they  might  thus  secure,  a  home  of  their  own. 
Xany  after  paying  for  years  are  compelled  to  give 
up  the  home  and  now  have  nothing.  Others  are  yet 
struggling  to  hold  what  they  have  labored  so  long 
to  secure,  and  yet  know  that  the  depreciation  of 
their  home  is  such  that  they  could  buy  its  equal  to- 
day for  what  they  yet  owe.  The  impression  is  strong 
with  them  that  they  have  saved  and  denied  them- 
selves for  3'ears  for  nothing.  "  Why  not  live  to-day 
up  to  this  day's  privileges  and  enjoyments?  Why 
did  we  not  enjoy  our  income  when  in  our  hands  ?" 
They  feel  that  they  have  saved  for  the  enjoyment 
of  a  to-morrow  that  never  came.  It  will  require 
years  before  hope  and  confidence  and  courage  with 
these  people  will  revive,  so  that  they  will  again 
enter  upon  a  life  of  careful  saving  economy. 

In  the  history  of  our  race  ignorance  is  associated 
with  poverty  and  renaissance  of  intelligence  comes 
with  wealth  ;  declining  prosperity-  deprives  of  the 
opportunity  for  intellectual  culture,  and  unremitted 
grinding  tasks  make  men  brutal.  With  us  the  op- 
portunities of  wealth  for  intellectual  culture  are 
brought  to  every  child's  door.  The  free  schools 
with  apparatus  for  illustration  and  competent  con- 
scientious teachers,  are  open  to  all,  and  in  most 
states  compulsory.  Free  libraries  and  open  churches 
will  counteract  in  part  this  tendency,  but  the  influ- 
ence is  felt  as  a  hindrance  to  intellectual  growth, 
especially  among  those  who  have  passed  from  com- 
petency to  poverty. 

These  times  of  depreciation  are  degrading  the 
morals.     Men  are  said  to  rise  the  highest  where  the 


EFFECT  OX  CHARACTER.  115 

conditions  of  life  are  the  severest.  Tliis  depends 
upon  the  character  of  the  conditions.  When  they 
are  those  of  nature,  as  a  severe  cUniate  and  a  sterile 
rocky  mountain  soil,  while  he  is  as  free  as  the  air 
that  pla3's  among  tliese  rocks,  the  rugged  con- 
ditions of  nature  bring  out  the  highest  and  best  that 
is  in  him.  When  the  struggle  is  not  with  nature 
but  with  masters,  the  lower  qualities  soon  come  to 
dominate. 

Injustice  resisted  makes  men  strong,  but  injustice 
helplessly  endured  grinds  out  all  that  is  noble  in 
thought  and  life.  A  respect  for  the  laws  of  both  God 
and  man  declines. 

It  is  a  wonder  among  man}''  good  people  why  these 
times  have  not  made  better  men.  "  These  light 
afflictions,  w'hicli  are  but  for  a  moment,  work  for  us 
a  far  more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glor}-," 
is  the  divine  assurance.  We  would  not  for  an  in- 
stant doubt  that  there  is  a  purpose  of  love  and  bless- 
ing in  every  trial  and  sorrow  of  life.  But  ^xe  must 
remember  that  the  divine  ordering  of  suffering  is 
often  to  lead  us  to  the  removal  of  the  cause  and  thus 
bring  to  ourselves  the  blessing.  The  pain  in  the 
corn  is  to  compel  3'ou  to  remove  the  irritating  press- 
ure and  bless  3'our  own  foot.  The  severe  pain  in 
the  tooth  indicates  disease  and  drives  3'ou  to  the 
dentist  for  cure  and  relief.  The  slaver}^  of  Egypt 
was  made  ver}'  severe  that  the  Hebrews  might  be 
driven  to  throw  off  that  bondage  and  become  the 
Lord's  freemen.  These  times  are  severe  to  open  the 
eyes  of  the  sufferers  to  see  the  wrongs  to  which  thej" 
have  been  submitting,  and  to  lead  them  to  seek 
deliverance. 

The    leaders    of   the    moral    and  spiritual    forces 


116  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

must  not  be  content  with  platitudes  about  the 
mysterious  afflictions  of  divine  goodness  and 
mere  exhortations  to  meek  submission,  but  thej^ 
must  study  to  discover  and  correct  the  w^rongs  with- 
out fear  or  favor.  If  the}'  are  wanting  here,  they 
come  under  suspicion  and  distrust  of  unfaithfulness 
to  truth  and  righteousness,  and  their  influence  is 
resisted.  The  pulpit  should  not  be  made  a  platform 
from  which  to  lecture  upon  the  function  of  money, 
but  there  should  be  a  clear  and  full  exposition  of  the 
w^ide  sweep  of  the  plain  old  command,  "Thou  shalt 
not  steal." 


EFFECT  ON  NATION.  117 


EFFECT  ON  NATION. 

ARTICLE    XV. 

The  effect  of  the  demonetizing  of  silver  on  the 
government  itself  is  such  as  to  alarm  every  thought- 
ful patriot. — The  silver  and  gold  combined  are  not 
a  full  metallic  basis  for  our  currenc3^  Were  a  gold 
or  a  silver  dollar  to  be  demanded  for  every  dollar  of 
our  present  currency,  every  grain  of  gold,  and  ounce 
of  silver,  coined  into  4ri.5-grain  dollars,  would  be 
taken,  and  3-et  there  would  remain  $500,000,000  of  cur- 
rency for  which  there  is  neither  silver  nor  gold  to 
redeem,  but  for  the  redemption  of  which  the  credit 
of  the  government  is  pledged,  and  to  meet  its  pledge 
fully  it  would  be  compelled  to  buy  that  amount  of 
either  gold  or  silver. 

With  the  present  standard,  gold  may  be  demand- 
ed for  ever}^  dollar  of  the  present  currency.  Every 
dollar  calls  for  25.8  grains  gold.  Now  if  this  demand 
is  made,  and  the  currency  is  being  presented  every 
day  and  gold  demanded,  then  after  the  present  small 
supply  of  the  j^ellow  metal  is  exhausted  there  will 
remain  $1,200,000,000  of  currency  for  which  there  is 
no  gold. 

If  all  the  silver  bullion  in  store  were  sold  for 
gold,  and  paper  dollars  substituted  for  the  silver 
now  coined  and  thej^  then  sold  as  bullion  for  gold, 
there  would  remain  not  less  than  $800,000,000  for 
which  there  is  absolutely  nothing  but  the  pledge  of 
the  government. 

An    increase    of   currency   only    aggravates     the 


118  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

situation.  Coining  all  the  silver  bullion  in  the  treas- 
ury into  full  weight  412.5-grain  dollars,  \vill  merely 
increase  the  strain  on  the  credit  of  the  government 
which  is  pledged  to  make  every  dollar  ecjual  to  25.8 
grains  gold. 

The  so-called  gold  reserve  dwindled  awa^^  and 
bonds  have  been  sold  to  bu}'  a  new  supply  of  gold, 
and  this  also  is  rapidly"  disappearing,  and  ma}^  en- 
tirel}^  disappear  any  da}^.  There  are  outstanding 
$66,000,000  of  gold  certificates  which  were  in  general 
circulation,  but  have  now  all  been  gathered  up  by 
the  national  banks  (see  last  statement  of  the  national 
banks)  and  can  without  an  hour's  notice  be  present- 
ed for  payment  and  sweep  the  treasur}^  clean  of  its 
gold. 

Those  in  authority,  who  are  anxious  to  maintain 
this  gold  standard,  desire  to  issue  all  the  bonds 
necessary  to  buj'  sufficient  gold  to  maintain  pay- 
ments on  this  basis.  To  meet  this  condition  full}^  it 
may  be  necessary'  to  buy  25.8  gold  to  redeem  every 
silver  and  paper  dollar  and  l)ank  note  and  silver 
certificate.  This  will  require  about  $1,200,000,000  and 
double  our  present  national  debt. 

The  product  of  our  gold  mines  is  $30,000,000  to 
$35,000,000  a  year.  To  replace  our  present  currency 
with  gold  would  require  all  the  product  of  our  mines 
for  30  3^ears,  and  paj''  no  interest  ;  but  the  annual  in- 
terest w^ould  be  equal  to  our  annual  product,  leaving 
nothing  \vith  which  to  reduce  the  principal.  The 
whole  w^orld  produces  only  $130,000,000  a  j^ear,  so 
that  to  supply  gold  for  ever3^  dollar  of  our  present 
currency  we  should  be  compelled  to  buj"  all  the  gold 
mined  in  the  world  for  ten  j^ears  and  pay  no  interest. 

But  about  two-fifths  of  the   gold    is    used  in  the 


EFFECT  ON  NATION.  119 

arts,  so  that  to  meet  this  obligation,  interest  and  all, 
we  should  be  compelled  to  buy  all  the  gold  available 
in  the  world  during  at  least  this  generation.  This 
purpose,  in  its  last  result,  can  only  bring  national 
financial  ruin.  The  most  favored  nation  under  the 
sun  cannot  escape. 

The  owner  of  an  immense  elevator  is  receiving 
grains,  -wheat  and  corn,  and  giving  certificates  to 
return  either  grain  on  demand.  He  accumulates 
a  vast  store  of  both  grains,  for  all  of  which  he 
has  given  certificates,  and  besides  to  meet  an 
emergency  he  has  issued  300,000,000  certificates 
for  which  he  never  had  any  grain.  In  an  hour  of 
hope  and  confidence,  and  at  the  suggestion  of  a  sly 
old  rival,  he  determines  to  give  wheat  to  all  who  re- 
turn their  certificates,  and  makes  a  public  pledge  to 
that  effect. 

He  has  not  corn  and  wheat  enough  combined  to 
meet  his  promises,  3'et  when  the  calls  come,  and 
they  come  rapidly,  he  draws  from  the  bin  of  wheat 
until  he  sees  the  bottom.  He  gives  wheat  to  the 
parties  from  whom  he  received  corn.  His  credit  is 
at  stake  and  he  resolves  to  meet  his  promises  and 
maintain  his  honor.  His  other  bin  is  bursting  with 
corn,  but  he  disdains  to  fill  certificates  with  that 
grain.  It  is  common.  It  mostly  grows  in  his  own 
familiar  valle3's  and  is  raised  by  some  of  his  neigh- 
bors whom  he  does  not  wish  to  favor.  He  mort- 
gages himself  to  buy  wheat  to  pour  into  the  bin 
from  which  he  is  constanth^  drawing. 

The  end  must  come.  His  credit  must  fail  and 
his  financial  ruin  ensue,  to  the  profit  and  amuse- 
ment of  the  sleek,  fat  rival.  In  order  to  avoid  dis- 
aster he  must  sacrifice  his  pride  and   stop  the  pur- 


120  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

chase  of  wheat  on  credit,  and  to  fill  his  certificates 
he  must  tap  the  corn  bin. 

The  only  safe  course  for  the  government  is  to 
settle,  here  and  now,  that  not  another  interest-bear- 
ing bond  shall  be  issued  to  buy  gold  ;  that  silver 
shall  be  remonetized,  412.5  grains  a  dollar,  and  the 
vaults  containing  the  millions  in  coin  and  in  bullion 
shall  be  opened  to  meet  the  demands  which  can  yet 
all  lawfull}^  be  paid  in  silver. 


INTERNATIONAL  AGREEMENT.  121 


INTERNATIONAL  AGREEMENT. 

ARTICLE    XVI. 

During  the  first  50  years  of  our  histor3^  silver 
was  not  named  among  our  products.  We  bought 
and  imported  what  we  coined,  A  silver  mine  in 
our  own  territory  would  then  have  been  regarded 
a  great  national  blessing.  During  these  later 
years  we  have  been  successful  in  discovering  rich 
mines  in  our  own  territory  and  have  increased  otir 
output  until  we  produce  over  half,  57  percent.,  of  all 
that  is  mined  in  the  world.  We  have  piled  it  up  in 
our  vaults  and  have  become  the  largest  owner  of 
silver  bullion.  It  is  confidently  asserted  that  we 
cannot  remonetize  this  without  a  conference  and  an 
agreement  among  commercial  nations. 

There  are  some  considerations  that  should  dis- 
pel this  error,  and  can  scarcely  fail  to  do  so,  when 
they  have  thoughtful  attention. 

No  monetary  conference  has  been  held  in  the 
interests  of  silver  or  of  the  people.  We  have  asked 
for  such  a  conference  three  times  and  have  received 
no  attention.  It  is  well  understood  that  a  monetar}' 
conference  to  consider  this  question  with  reference 
to  the  welfare  of  the  people,  whether  their  best 
interests  require  the  use  of  gold  or  silver  or  both, 
cannot  be  gathered.  Kvery  conference  held  has 
been  dominated  by  financial  houses  that  sought 
their  own  profit,  and  the  increased  importance  of 
their  own  gold.  A  majorit}^  of  those  composing  the 
Brussels  conference  were  bimetallists.      Six  of  the 


122  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

twelve  English  delegates  were  binietallists,  3"et  the 
gold  basis  supporters  broke  it  up  without  favorable 
action. 

M.  Rothschild,  of  the  Bank  of  England,  had  a  lead- 
ing part  in  the  Conference.  He  commended  gold 
because  a  large  amount  of  value  w-as  in  a  compact 
form  and  could  be  handled  much  easier  than 
a  large  bulk.  He  said  "his  house"  often  trans- 
ported in  exchange,  at  one  time,  several  hun- 
dred pounds  sterling,  and  a  larger  bulk  would 
be  inconvenient.  The  ciuestion  as  to  the  removal 
of  a  million  of  dollars,  b}^  a  hand-cart  or  a  dray, 
is  trifling,  when  the  financial  interests  of  all 
the  world  are  under  discussion.  This  is  mentioned 
because  this  argument  of  >I.  Rothschild  is  given  the 
first  place  in  a  circular,  advocating  the  gold  basis, 
that  has  been  sent  to  all  the  banks  and  because  the 
writer  has  heard  this  argument  echoed  bj'- those  who 
read  it. 

To  expect  any  conferences  in  the  future, 
organized  or  appointed  in  the  same  wa^',  to  take  a 
step  favorable  to  silver,  is  to  assume  that  selfish 
human  nature  will  not  be  true  to  itself.  You  might 
as  reasonabl}^  expect  a  company  of  cattle  breeders 
and  owners  to  take  active  measures  to  introduce 
mutton ;  or  a  convention  of  wheat  growers  to 
determine  and  plan  to  introduce  rice.  It  will  never 
occur  that  the  owners  of  a  controlling  interest  in  the 
world's  little  lump  of  eight  or  ten  thousand  tons  of 
gold,  will  voluntarily^  permit  anj^  other  metal  to 
come  into  competition  with   it. 

But  it  is  asserted  that  there  must  be  co-opera- 
tion among  commercial  nations.  Great  Britain 
could     not  destroy  its  value    until   we  co-operated. 


INTERNATIONAL  AGREEMENT.  123 

Silver  was  good  and  strong  until  the  act  of  our  own 
government  in  1873. 

The  United  Kingdom,  but  not  the  dependencies, 
had  been  on  a  gold  basis  since  1816.  Germany, 
when  our  mines  of  gold  were  so  wonderfully  pro- 
ductive in  the  fifties,  demonetized  gold,  but  when 
these  mines  failed  and  silver  mining  became  promi- 
nent and  prosperous,  gold  was  restored  and  silver 
demonetized  instead.  However,  the  demonetizing 
act  was  not  until  after  our  own  government 
acted.  The  Scandinavian  Union  took  measures 
to  demonetize  silver,  and  Holland,  that  had 
been  on  a  silver  basis,  became  bimetallic,  but  sil- 
ver bullion  held  strong  in  the  markets  of  the  world. 
The  ratio  of  one  to  sixteen  was  established  by  our 
government  in  1834  and  there  was  not  an  hour  until 
1873  when  the  silver  dollar  was  not  worth  more  in 
the  foreign  market  than  the  gold  dollar.  In  that 
fatal  year  the  silver  dollar  in  the  London  market 
was  worth  $.004  more  than  the  gold  dollar.  The 
decline  only  came  when  this  nation,  that  produced 
one-half  the  world's  annual  product  of  silver, 
destroyed  it  as  money,  and  even  then  the  decline 
was  not  rapid.  Silver  only  staggered  when  stabbed 
by  the  unnatural  act  of  its  own  mother,  infatuated 
and  misguided  for  the  time,  but  now  fully  conscious 
of  her  crime.  Yet  there  are  those  who  would  not  have 
her  snatch  up  the  child  her  hand  has  wounded  and 
bind  up  its  bruises  and  nurse  it  back  again  to  its 
former  strength,  but  they  call  upon  her  to  wait  and 
wait  with  pleading  wail  and  outstretched  arms,  until 
others  without  natural  interest  pick  up  her  child, 
dress  its  wounds  and  then  lay  it  tenderly  in  her 
arms    again.      The    spirit    of    motherhood    must    be 


Columbia  threw  down  her  own  child  in  February,  1873.  She  now 
wants  it  restored  to  her  arnis. 

"  Why  continue  tlie  (Brussels)  Conference?  What  necessity  is  there 
for  England  to  send  any  more  comniissionersT''  We  do  not  intend  to  go 
to  anything  else  but  the  gold  standard.  We  are  the  creditor  people  of 
the  world,  and  we  want  money  to  have  the  highest  purchasing 
capacity."— ir.  E.  Gladstone. 

The  present  Prime  Minister  of  England  is  non-committal  on  this 
question. 

Germany  under  Bismarck,  with  the  immense  indemnity  sum 
wrung  from  France,  rejected  silver  in  July,  1893,  five  months  after  the 
United  States,  but  is  relenting  in  these  last  days.  See  addenda  to  this 
volume. 

France  could  not  be  induced  to  abandon  silver,  though  compelled  to 
discontinue  coinage  for  a  time.  Her  position  is  that  of  sympathy  with 
silver. 

Italy  and  the  other  states  of  the  Latin  Union  agree  with  France. 


126  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

reversed  since  the  days  of  Solomon,  else  the  old  king 
gained  a  reputation  for  wisdom   he   never  deserved. 

With  regard  to  these  conferences,  Mr.  F.  J.  Scott 
in  a  recent  paper  says  : 

"I  have  followed  the  initiator^'  steps  and  the  actual 
proceedings  of  each  of  the  four  great  monetar}^  con- 
ferences. The  first,  held  in  Paris  in  1867,  on  the 
invitation  of  France,  'to  discuss  simply  the  unifica- 
tion of  coinage  throughout  the  world,  etc'  At  this 
conference  Samuel  B.  Ruggles  of  Xew  York,  the 
leading  United  States  delegate,  in  conjunction  with 
Senator  John  Sherman  \vho  was  then  in  Paris,  as 
representatives  of  the  United  States  took  it  upon 
themselves  to  initiate  and  to  support  the  gold-unit 
propaganda.  It  thus  became  an  American  move- 
ment— one  purely-  theoretical,  and  not  then  supposed 
to  be  a  war  on  silver,  or  a  means  of  lessening  its 
value,  or  of  scaling  up  all  credits  by  increasing  the 
value  of  the  gold  units.  Gold  had  for  several  years 
before  that  time  been  a  cheapening  metal.  Just 
then,  however,  gold  production  was  diminishing  and 
silver  increasing.  It  did  not  take  the  great  loaning 
classes  long  to  see  that  their  profits  would  be  great 
bj"  making  onlj'  one  metal  the  universal  unit.  If  gold 
production  had  passed  its  maximum,  and  silver 
production  was  on  the  increase  relatively",  gold 
might  soon  become  the  dearer  metal.  The  United 
States  voluntarily  began  to  pull  the  chestnuts  out  of 
the  fire  for  the  money-lenders  of  Europe.  Agitation 
begun  in  1867  was  continued  bj^the  gold  propaganda, 
until  the  unnecessary^  and  suicidal  revolution  was 
consummated  b}'  the  act  of  Congress  of  1873,  sub- 
verting the  silver  and  adopting  the  gold  unit,  and 
eliminating  the  silver  dollar  from  American  coinage. 


IXTERNATIONAL  AGREEMENT.  127 

There  has  not  been  a  time  since  that  action  was 
taken  when  a  reversal  b}'  our  Congress  of  that  revo- 
lutionary legislation  against  silver  might  not  have 
carried  up  the  price  of  silver  and  diminished  the 
inflated  value  of  gold  to  their  standard  parity. 

The  writer  has  been  an  attentive  reader  of  the 
discussions  in  the  great  monetar}"  conferences  of 
1878,  1889  and  1892,  and  in  all  of  them  the  discussions 
have  revealed  a  singular  preponderance  of  opinion 
among  the  learned  delegates  towards  the  justice  of 
an  absolute  return  to  bimetallism.  But  there  has 
always  been  a  turning  of  the  e^^es  of  foreign  repre- 
sentatives to  the  American  delegates  to  ask,  in  sub- 
stance, if  not  in  form,  'What  has  3'our  government 
authorized  j^ou  to  sa}',  or  to  guarantee,  in  that  direc- 
tion? Your  countr}^  is  the  great  silver  producer. 
Your  government  put  aside  the  silver  standard,  and 
substituted  the  gold.  Now  what  do  you  propose 
to  do?' 

Each  time  these  questions  in  one  form  or  another 
■were  put  to  the  American  delegates,  the^^  were 
powerless  to  make  an}'  definite  answer  for  their  gov- 
ernment. It  has  been  evident  in  every  one  of  these 
great  conferences,  that  representatives  of  great  loan- 
ing houses  have  been  in  them  as  delegates  of 
European  nations,  and  have  been  conspicuous  in 
advocating  the  single  gold  standard.  But  it  has 
seemed  plain  from  the  utterances  of  the  more  promi- 
nent statesmen  in  those  conferences  that  thej' would 
have  been  glad  to  have  the  United  States  take  the 
lead  back  to  the  safe  ground  from  which  she  had 
departed  ;  she  alone  being  in  a  safe  position  to  take 
the  lead  so  that  the  rest  might  safely  follow. 

While    silver    has     steadilv     declined    in    value 


128  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

through  the  policy  of  our  own  government,  the  evils 
attendant  on  the  decline  have  assumed  alarming 
proportions.  The  absolute  necessity  of  maintaining 
bimetallism  which  a  dozen  j^ears  ago  vsras  onlj^ 
appreciated  by  those  who  had  given  the  subject 
study,  has  now  become  a  part  of  popular  conviction 
all  around  the  world.  The  gripe  of  hard  times  has 
forced  the  thoughtless  to  think.  The  monstrous 
effects  of  contraction  to  a  single  gold  standard  are 
permeating  the  minds  of  business  men  of  all  coun- 
tries. Public  opinion  everj^where  is  more  ripe  for  a 
return  to  bimetallism  than  ever  before.  It  needs 
only  a  leader.  The  United  States  is  in  a  position  to 
lead  successfully.  It  seems  to  me  that  we  have  been 
as  a  nation,  and  are  now  in  a  humiliating  position 
on  this  (juestion  ;  asking  other  nations  to  help  us  to 
do  what  we  have  full  power  to  do  alone,  and  the 
greatest  interest  in  doing." 

When  the  necessit}'^  of  the  co-operation  of  other 
nations  is  claimed  it  is  meant  merely  that  we  can- 
not go  back  to  the  old  basis  without  the  co-operation 
of  Great  Britain  ;  for  aside  from  Great  Britain  and 
her  dependencies,  almost  the  whole  world  is  bime- 
tallic or  else  silver  alone.  Russia  and  nearl3^  all  the 
Americas  are  silver  alone.  While  France,  Holland, 
Italy,  Spain,  Netherlands,  and  all  Asiatic  countries 
hot  under  British  domination,  are  bimetallic.  Those 
countries  upon  -which  the  United  Kingdom  has 
forced  the  gold  basis  are  prostrated  commercially. 
This  monetary  distress  is  said  to  be  world-wide,  and 
is  because  the  sun  never  sets  on  the  British  Prov- 
inces, and  this  enforced  destruction  of  values  affects 
them  all,  notably  Australia  and  India,  "where  all 
business  has  been  paralyzed. 


INTERNATIONAL  AGREEMENT.  129 

The  co-operation  of  Great  Britain  means  the  per- 
mission of  the  Bank  of  England,  which  controls  all 
the  tinances  of  the  Kingdom  and  dictates  the  mone- 
tary policy.  This  bank  is  controlled  by  twenty-six 
directors,  who  choose  their  own  successors  and  are 
independent.  In  this  board  are  young  men,  who 
have  small  influence  as  yet  in  its  control  so  that  the 
management  is  in  the  hands  of  a  ver^^  few,  and  they 
are  Hebrews  ;  and  Hebrews  are  Hebrews  every- 
where ;  they  may  be  Russian  Hebrews,  or  German 
Hebrews,  or  English  Hebrews,  but  they  are  Hebrews 
first,  always;  and  have  resisted  all  the  influence  of 
the  ages,  since  Abram  was  called  out  of  Ur,  to 
absorb  and  assimilate  them.  They  are  among  the 
nations,  yet  not  of  them.  That  we  cannot  remone- 
tize  silver  without  the  co-operation  of  Great  Britain 
means  that  we  must  have  the  permission  of  this 
clique  and  close  corporation  of  Jews.  We  insinuate 
nothing  with  regard  to  the  Jew.  The  bank  was 
organized  by  a  shrewd  Scotchman  and  a  clique  of 
clannish  Scotchmen  might  be  no  safer.  Human 
nature  is  the  same  ;  we  are  of  one  blood. 

Where  are  the  Sons  and  Daughters  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  and  the  Sons 
and  Daughters  of  Veterans,  that  we  cannot  have  an 
independent  monetary  system?  Our  fathers,  in 
their  feebleness,  did  not  adopt  the  English  pound 
sterling  and  shilling  and  penny,  though  in  common 
use  and  familiar,  but  they  established  U.  S.  money 
with  the  dollar  as  a  unit,  and  determined  its  value 
in  silver  and  gold.  They  declared  they  were  inde- 
pendent, and  fought  it  out  on  that  line,  and  then 
acted  like  independent  men.  Must  we  noMr,  when 
we  have  grown  great,  65,000,000  of  people,  and  rich, 

9 


130  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

$70,000,0(X),000  of  wealth,  and  so  strong  we  dominate 
the  western  hemisphere,  and  have  just  astonished 
the  w^hole  world  with  an  exhibition  of  our  grandeur, 
must  we  now  ask  permission  from  the  old-time 
oppressor  to  use  our  ow:i  silver  for  money  ?  Fortu- 
nately we  have  never  yet  made  a  contract  or  given 
a  bond  that  cannot  lawfully  be  paid  in  silver.  Will 
we  permit  ourselves  to  be  made  bankrupt  in  servile 
obedience  to  British  and  Hebrew  dictation  now  ? 

We  are  writing  this,  as  the  reader  may  surmise, 
on  the  eve  of  the  Fourth  of  July.  Our  boys  are  buy- 
ing their  fire-crackers  and  we  are  preparing  to 
re-reati  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  but  no  act 
of  oppression  therein  recounted  caused  half  the  woe 
that  has  been  caused  b^-  this  destruction  of  values. 
If  we  are  not  independent  enough  to  correct  this  with- 
out asking  permission,  we  have  lost  our  freedom  and 
our  celebration  is  a  farce.  We  had  better  ship  the 
fire-crackers  back  to  China  and  hang  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  upside  down  in  the  garret  and 
clothe  ourselves  in  sack-cU)th. 

We  can  resume  bimetallism  and  can  lift  silver 
back  to  its  old  value  without  assistance  from  other 
governments.  We  must  lead  ;  others  will  follow. 
Not  foreign  conferences,  but  United  States  leader- 
ship in  defence  of  our  own  products  and  our  own 
money  is  what  these  times  demand. 


GREATKR  SECURITY.  131 


GREATER  SECURITY. 

ARTICLE  XVII. 

Tliere  is  no  reason  outside  of  custom  and  the 
arbitrary  edict  of  laws  why  gold  or  silver,  or  both 
combined,  should  be  the  base  of  the  world's  values. 
There  are  those  who  think  we  have  progressed  so 
far  that  we  should  discard  both,  and  place  instead  a 
ne'w  unit  based  on  population  and  property;  but 
there  uiust  be  some  method  of  estimating  property 
even  for  this  purpose.  It  is,  however,  taking  a  step 
backward  rather  than  forward  to  contract  the  base 
to  one  metal,  instead  of  the  two  as  heretofore,  when 
the    w^orld's    wealth    has   so  wonderfully  increased. 

All  the  gold  in  the  world  in  a  lump  would  not  be 
larger  than  a  small  dwelling  house,  and  yet  over 
this  as  a  fulcrum  the  effort  is  made  to  balance  the 
commerce  of  all  the  world,  and  this  fulcrum  is  so  in 
the  hands  of  a  few  that  it  can  be  manipulated  at 
will  to  throw  the  balance  to  suit  their  personal  and 
private  ends.  There  should  l)e  an  enlargement  of 
the  base,  and  greater  security'  should  be  provided  for 
the  stability  of  values. 

A  single  wire  is  less  safe  than  a  cable,  composed 
of  a  large  number  of  small  wires.  A  rope  of  a  single 
strand  will  not  bear  the  strain  like  a  number  of 
strands  combined.  With  gold  and  silver  twined  the 
cable  is  too  small  for  the  world's  wealth,  and  with 
both  there  can  be  no  advance  of  values.  All  of  both 
metals  that  is  taken,  or  is   likel3'  to  be   taken   from 


132  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

the  mines,  is  too  small  to  keep  pace  with  the  world's 
commercial  increase. 

We  now  depend  on  gold  alone.  There  is  about 
$5,000,000,000  of  gold  in  all  the  w-orld  to-day,  and 
about  one-third  is  in  the  control  of  one  family,  and  a 
large  portion  of  the  remaining  is  held  by  a  few 
others.  The  power  of  the  individual  is  thus  too 
great  for  safetj'^  when  we  know  human  nature  with 
the  human  greed  of  avarice,  not  destroyed  but  posi- 
tively   quickened    with    advantages    offered. 

Commercial  disasters  have  been  caused  mostly  b}' 
interested  financial  manipulation.  There  should  be 
some  protection.  When  one  strand  of  a  rope  weakens, 
the  others  hold.  When  one  wire  of  a  cable  snaps,  all  is 
not  lost.  When  the  air  brakes  of  the  train  fail  to  act, 
they  twist  up  the  shoes  by  hand,  and  the  train  does 
not  go  to  ruin.  When  the  elevator  cable  gives  way, 
there  are  dogs  and  ratchets  to  catch  and  hold  it 
that  it  may  not  drop  with  its  living  freight  to  the 
bottom:  so  there  should  be  more  than  a  feeble  thread 
of  gold  to  support  values. 

Gold  and  silver  should  be  twisted  into  a  cable  for 
strength  and  security  and  ordinary  commercial  ser- 
vice, but  back  of  them  there  should  be  a  unit  of  the 
principal  staple  products  of  the  mines  and  of  the 
fields,  as  cotton,  wheat,  corn  and  iron.  These  staples 
should  be  given  some  permanent  minimum  of  value. 
Were  the  precious  metals  given  their  places  as  for- 
merly and  then  wheat,  cotton,  corn  and  iron  given 
also  permanent  debt-pa3'ing  power  at  tw^enty-five 
per  cent,  less  than  the  average  prices  during  ten 
years  of  the  bimetallic  period,  it  would  afford  great 
security  ;  then  should  gold  and  silver  both  be  cor- 
nered, these  products    would   protect  against    utter 


GREATER  SECURITY.  133 

ruin  and  give  a  confidence  that  is  not  now  felt. 
Tennessee  money  founded  on  cotton  went  through 
the  war  and  was  at  a  premium.  This  protection  will 
be  in  accord  with  the  advancing  ideas  of  the  age, 
and  provide  greater  security  against  fluctuations 
in  money  and  in  staples.  This  will  encourage  those 
who  have  lost  heart  from  reverses  and  afford  them 
some  hope  of  protection  for  the  future. 

Those  "water  works  would  not  afford  a  constant 
and  sure  supply  for  the  emergencies  in  a  cit}^  that 
did  not  have  some  reserved  force  or  reservoir.  An 
electric  plant,  to  avoid  the  possibility^  of  leaving  the 
city  at  any  time  in  darkness,  has  dynamos  in  re- 
serve, should  those  in  service  for  any  reason  fail. 
Electric  and  cable  cars  would  not  long  have  the 
confidence  of  the  public  if  they  were  rendered  irreg- 
ular in  their  time,  by  an}^  slight  accident  to  one 
delicatel}^  constructed  engine.  On  inclined  planes 
should  the  cable  snap,  the  speciallj"  constructed 
brake  grasps  the  track  and  the  car  does  not  crash 
down  to  ruin.  In  nothing  else  is  there  such  a  fear- 
ful risk  taken  as  there  is  in  hanging  on  a  single 
gold  thread  all  the  financial  interests  of  the  nation, 
with  no  protection  whatever  should  that  thread  fail. 


i:U  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 


NATIONAL  BANKS. 

ARTICLE  XV'III. 

The  laws  authorizing  national  banks  were  first 
enacted  in  1863  and  were  modified  by  further  legis- 
lation in  later  years.  These  laws  granted  special 
privileges  to  the  purchasers  of  U.  S.  bonds  ;  the  bonds 
were  free  from  taxation  b}'  state  or  municipal  author- 
ity ;  the  interest  was  paj^able  in  coin,  which  was 
afterward  interpreted  as  meaning  gold.  Those  who 
should  purchase,  were  given  the  privilege  of  organ- 
izing national  banks  in  any  part  of  the  countrj^  and 
a  tax  of  10  per  cent,  was  imposed  on  all  state  banks, 
which  practically  destroyed  them  as  rivals  of  these 
new  organizations. 

The  government  further  agreed  to  issue  to  these 
new  national  banks,  national  bank  notes  up  to  90 
per  cent,  of  the  amount  of  bonds  they  had  pur- 
chased, and  to  pledge  its  credit  for  their  redemption, 
so  as  to  make  them  current  in  all  parts  of  the  coun- 
tr3\  They  charged  the  banks  1  per  cent,  for  the  ex- 
pense of  this  issue. 

By  this  means  capitalists  could  invest  $100,000  in 
bonds  free  from  all  taxes,  and  receive  interest  on 
that  amount  from  the  government  in  gold.  When 
organized  as  a  bank,  90  per  cent,  or  $90,000  would  be 
issued  to  them  in  national  bank  notes,  at  their  re- 
quest, which  could  be  loaned  to  customers.  While 
not  legal  tender,  yet  this  currencj'^  had  the  pledged 
credit  of  the  government  that  it  should  be  equal  to 
coin,  so  that  practically  the  bank  note  was  the  same 


NATIONAL  BANKS.  135 

as  the  greenback  that  had  been  issued  direct  by  the 
government. 

This  made  bujnng  bonds  and  organizing  banks 
as  near  giving  money  away  and  yet  keeping  it 
as  was  ever  accomplished.  It  made  possible  the 
supposed  impossible  feat  hitherto  among  boys  of 
eating  plums  and  yet  having  them,  Whenthe}^  paid 
their  money,  90  per  cent,  was  benevolently  handed 
back  again  for  their  use  and  profit.  This  was  a  great 
opportunity  to  receive  two  separate  interests,  one 
from  the  government  collected  as  revenue  from  the 
people,  and  one  from  the  private  customers;  and 
banks  were  organized  rapidly  in  all  parts  of  the  land. 

These  were  great  privileges.  In  granting  them 
the  government  abandoned  its  polic}^ toward  national 
banks  which  it  had  adhered  to  tenaciously  for  thirty 
years,  This  was  regarded  as  a  war  measure,  and 
the  banks  were  thought  to  be  a  war  necessity;  the 
government  was  in  need  of  money  and  must  ac- 
cede to  the  demands  of  those  who  controlled  it. 
"The  borrower  is  servant  to  the  lender."  The  con- 
dition was  very  similar  to  that  in  England,  when 
William,  poor  and  with  failing  credit,  granted  the 
charter  of  "the  Governor  and  Directors  of  the  Bank 
of  England,"  on  condition  that  they  lend  him 
£1,200,000  at  8  per  cent.  This  was  a  perpetual 
loan,  never  to  be  paid,  but  the  8  per  cent,  was  to  be 
paid  annuall}^,  and   has  been  for  200  years. 

The  first  object,  urged  for  the  adoption  of  this 
banking  sj^stem,  was  to  make  a  market  for  the  gov- 
ernment bonds  1)3^  offering  these  special  privileges 
to  investors.  This  purpose  was  fully  accomplished, 
as  all  bonds  offered  were  purchased  and  soon  went 
to  a  premium.      This  is  easy  to  understand.      Any 


Febri'Ary  23,  18()3. 
"Section  16.~Atid  be  it  further  enacted.  That  upon  the  making 
of  any  such  transfer  and  delivery  tlie  association  making  the  same 
shall  be  entitled  to  receive  from  the  Comptroller  of  the  Currency  circu- 
lating notes  of  different  denominations,  in  blank,  registered  and  coun- 
tersigned as  liereinafter  provided,  equal  in  amount  to  ninety  per 
centum  of  the  current  market  value  of  the  United  States  bonds  so 
transferred  and  delivered,  but  not  exceeding  the  par  value  thereof,  if 
bearing  interest  at  the  rate  of  six  per  entum,  or  of  equivalent  United 
States  bonds  bearing  a  less  rate  of  interest;  and  at  no  time  shall  tbe 
total  amount  of  such  notes,  issued  to  any  sucli  association,  exceed  the 
amount  at  such  time  actuall3^  paid  in  of  its  capital  stock." 

Notice  that  it  was  wisely  provided  that  when  the  boys  were  through 
eating  they  should  not  have  more  plums  than  they  had  in  the  hat  when 
they  began. 


138  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

responsible  borrower  of  nione}",  who,  upon  receiving- 
and  giving  his  interest-bearing  note  for  $100  would 
immediately  hand  back  to  the  lender  $90,  and  yet 
pay  interest  on  the  $100,  retaining  only  the  $10,  would 
have  money  urged  upon  him.  The  government 
endorsement  of  the  notes  handed  back  made  them 
good  and  current  everywhere,  however  low  might  be 
the  character  and  standing  and  credit  of  the  local 
bankers.  This  universal  credit  thus  given  their  cir- 
culation was  itself  worth  the  10  per  cent,  of  their 
investment.  This  the  tirst  reason  for  the  national 
banking  sj^stem  has  passed  away,  if  it  ever  really 
existed.  Bonds  have  a  market.  Capitalists  are 
anxiously  waiting  for  the  issuance  of  many  millions 
more  and  are  ready  to  take  them  at  a  premium. 

The  second  purpose  urged  was  to  strengthen  the 
S3nnpath3^  \vith  the  government  itself,  all  over  the 
land.  There  was  thought  to  be  a  w^ant  of  loyalty  in 
certain  parts,  and  it  was  argued,  that  by  uniting  the 
leading  financial  interests  in  all  the  states  with  the 
permanent  establishment  and  prosperity  of  the  gov- 
ernment, there  would  be  fostered  a  spirit  of  loyalty; 
public  and  personal  prosperity  would  be  linked 
together.  This  purchase  of  loyalty  may  not  have 
been  so  successful,  for  the  patriotism  of  money  is 
not,  and  never  has  been,  reliable.  It  is  w^holly  gov- 
erned by  selfish  motives,  and  will  only  be  true  to  the 
interests  that  foster  it,  as  ticks  cling  only  to  the  body 
from  which  they  can  draw  blood. 

This  reason  was  plausible,  but  never  valid.  The 
establishment  of  a  privileged  moneyed  class,  having 
special  privileges  because  they  have  monej'^,  is  not 
good  republicanism,  nor  is  it  good  governmental  pol- 
icy anywhere.  The  tyranny  of  capital  is  soulless  and 


NATIONAL  BANKS.  139 

merciless,  and  should  be  guarded  against  with  the 
greatest  of  care.  To  intrench  such  a  class  in  power 
and  give  them  the  privilege  of  manipulating  the 
currency  for  their  own  profit,  is  a  menace  to  the 
interest  of  the  public,  and  the  continued  existence 
of  the  class  now  holding  these  privileges,  which  thej^ 
will  not  use  for  the  public  welfare,  is  to  court  dis- 
aster. 

The  third  reason  was  the  desire  to  replace  the 
greenbacks,  issued  by  the  government  direct,  with 
some  currenc}^  that  would  be  as  wideU'  popular  and 
secure,  and  3'et  would  not  be  direct  from  the  govern- 
ment. Their  issue  was  supposed  to  be  onl}-  a  tem- 
porar}"  measure  soon  to  be  replaced.  Capitalists 
especially  urged  their  withdrawal  and  that  these 
new  bank  notes  be  the  onh'  paper  currency.  This^ 
however,  afterwards  w^as  not  thought  desirable  and 
greenbacks  are  still  kept  in  circulation  to  the  amount 
of  about  $340,000,000.  When  returned  to  the  treasur3- 
they    are    immediateh"  re-issued  and  paid  out  again. 

The  amount  of  1)ank  notes  was  at  first  limited  to 
$300,000,000,  the  amount  of  greenbacks  in  circulation 
that  they  were  to  replace  afterward  made  $350,000,000  ; 
but  on  the  resumption  of  specie  payment  all  limit 
was  removed  and  banks  can  be  organized  anywhere 
no\s",  and  on  request  will  receive  90  per  cent,  in  bank 
notes,  secured  b}"  the  government,  for  whatever 
amount  of  bonds  they  may  purchase  for  their  cap- 
ital. 

The  bank  notes  circulate  everj'where  with  cur- 
rent greenback  legal  tender  money,  and  in  fact  the 
government  is  responsible  for  one  as  for  the  other. 
The  greenbacks  are  preferred  bj^  the  people,  who  see 
no  necessity  for  the  third  part^-that  is  brought  in  by 


140  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

the  bank  note  currency.  The  loss  of  greenbacks 
from  fire  or  from  any  cause,  and  that  never  will  be 
returned  for  redemption,  which  is  estimated  at  $50,- 
000,000,  inures  to  the  benefit  of  the  public  treasury, 
while  the  loss  of  bank  notes  from  like  causes  is  to 
the  advantage  of  the  bankers.  The  assumed  greater 
security  of  bank  notes,  because  of  the  private  capital 
pledged,  in  addition  to  the  pledge  of  the  government, 
is  a  factor  so  inconsiderable  as  to  receive  no  atten- 
tion; while  the  government  stands  the  greenbacks 
are  good,  and  when  the  government  fails  the  national 
bank  notes  will  also  be  worthless. 

The  fourth  reason  was  the  provision  of  a  flexible 
currency.  It  was  plausibl3^  argued  that  when  money 
is  scarce,  at  any  time  or  in  any  part  of  the  country, 
the  banks  will  draw  up  to  tlie  90  per  cent,  limit  and 
loan  at  good  rates,  and  when  the  money  is  very 
plenty  and  rates  of  interest  low  they  will  naturally 
withdraw  their  circulation.  This  has  always  been 
seen  to  offer  a  possible  double  interest,  one  on  the 
bonds,  free  from  all  taxes  equal  to  6  per  cent.,  and 
one  on  the  private  loans  of  the  same  funds  to  the 
bank's  customers.  This  made  the  banker's  lot 
pleasant  and  secure.  If  there  was  no  call  for  money 
he  could  quietl3'  cut  off  his  coupons  and  draw  his 
interest  from  the  government,  and  if  money  was 
needed,  he  could  furnish  it,  and  through  the  office 
window  receive  another  interest,  from  the  same 
funds,  from  private  customers;  constant  government 
interest  on  the  whole  amount  invested  and  another 
interest  on  90  per  cent,  as  business  might  offer. 

The  tlexibilit}'-  of  the  currenc^^  has  not  been 
secured.  The  national  banks  have  not  come  to  the 
relief  of  the  people,  and  the  financial  stringency  has 


NATIONAL  BANKS.  141 

been  increased  by  the  privileges  granted  to  this 
favored  class.  The  national  banks,  instead  of  being 
separate  and  distinct,  as  it  was  supposed  they 
would  be,  united  for  mutual  advantage  and  now 
operate  as  any  great  combine  for  their  own  interest, 
and  co-operate  w^ith  other  independent  financial 
institutions.  The  issue  of  bank  notes  was  nearly 
$350,000,000  when  a  contraction  was  determined  upon 
and  begun. 

A  general  contraction  was  continued  until  the 
national  bank  note  circulation  was  not  one-half  of 
that  authorized  by  their  capital  stock.  Early  in  1893 
a  further  contraction  of  currency  and  calling  in  of 
loans  was  entered  upon,  so  that  we  find  when  cur- 
rency was  at  a  premium  the  contraction  was  contin- 
uing, and  now  when  the  general  opinion  is  that  a 
great  additional  volume  of  currency  is  needed,  the 
national  banks  have  the  authority  to  issue,  without 
adding  another  dollar  to  their  capital  stock,  $400,- 
000,000  of  currency.  The  talk  of  authorizing  them 
to  issue  to  their  full  amount  of  bonds  is  idle,  as  they 
have  contracted  until  not  over  one-fourth  of  the  90 
per  cent,  now  authorized  is  in  circulation.  This  con- 
traction of  the  authorized  currency  until  financial 
distress  was  upon  all  our  people,  and  then  utterly 
failing  to  come  to  their  relief  by  the  money  they  had 
the  right  and  authority  to  issue,  shows  that  flexibil- 
ity does  not  practically  follow  from  this  system,  how- 
ever logical  such  a  result  at  first  seemed.  It  also 
shows  that  placing  the  ability  to  expand  or  contract 
our  currency  in  the  hands  of  private  parties  is  a 
menace  to  the  public  welfare.  It  will  not  be  em- 
ployed for  public  good  when  private  interests  are  not 


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"I  sincerely  believe  that  bankinjj  establishments  are  more  dan- 
gerous than  standing  armies."— r/iowjas  Jefferson. 

"/see  in  the  near  future  a  crisis  approaching  that  unnerves  me 
and  causes  me  to  tremble  for  the  safety  of  my  country.  As  a  result  of  the 
war,  corporations  have  been  enthroned  and  an  era  of  corruption  in 
■hig'h  places  will  follow,  and  the  money  power  of  the  country  jrilJ 
endeavor  to  prolong  its  reign  by  working  upon  the  prejudices  of  the 
people  until  all  wealth  is  aggregated  in  a  few  hands,  and  the 
republic  is  destroyed.  I  feel  at  this  moment  more  anxiety  for  the 
safety  of  my  country  than  ever  before,  even  in  the  midst  of  war. 
God  grant  that  my  suspicions  may  prove  groundless."— »4.  Lincoln . 

"Oh!  Saj',  does  that  star-spangled  banner  yet  wave, 
Over  the  land  of  the  free  and  the  liome  of  the  brave." 

—Francis  Scott  Kej'. 


144  thesp:  hard  times. 

served.  The  public  welfare  will  be  sacrificed  when 
private  interest  can  be  advanced. 

These  national  banks  have  quietly  gathered  into 
their  vaults  $200,000,000  of  gold  coin,  a  very  small 
amount  of  silver  coin,  a  vast  volume  of  currency,  and 
practically  all  the  gold  certificates,  and  are  the  most 
earnest  advocates  of  a  single  gold  basis.  They  advo- 
cate the  withdrawal  of  the  greenbacks  issued  direct 
from  the  government,  and  ask  that  bank  note  cur- 
rency alone  be  issued  from  the  banks,  as  authorized 
by  the  present  banking  system.  ■  They  seek  to  occu- 
py a  place  in  our  government  similar  to  the  Bank  of 
England,  which  handles  all  the  national  finances, 
issues  all  the  bank  notes,  establishes  its  ow^n  dis- 
counts, and  is  an  uncrow^ned  king  dominating  the 
commercial  and  financial  interests  of  the  United 
Kingdom. 

They  possibly  control  us  now.  The  influence  of 
bankers  in  legislation  was  feared  by  our  fathers. 
The  following  resolution  was  passed  by  the  Senate 
December  23rd,  1793:  "Any  person  holding  any 
office  or  any  stock  in  any  institution  in  the  nature 
of  a  bank  for  issuing  or  discounting  bills  or  notes 
payable  to  bearer  or  order,  cannot  be  a  member  of  the 
House  while  he  holds  such  office  or  stock,"  This  was 
signed  by  George  Washington.  A  hundred  years, 
and  multiplying  the  3  banks  by  1000,  does  not  make 
their  influence  more  salutary. 

The  Senate  is  now  filled  with  those  interested  in 
national  banks.  The  Senator  without  bank  stock 
is  a  rarity.  From  the  Congressional  Record  of  April 
10th,  1894,  page  4336,  we  learn  that  an  honorable 
Senator  stated  that  it  was  reported  the  President 
had   said   "the  banks  have  got  the  country  by  the 


NATIONAL  BANKS.  145 

leg."  If  this  is  not  elegant  it  is  forcible,  and  its  mean- 
ing cannot  be  misunderstood. 

Our  whole  banking  system  is  founded  on  the  na- 
tional debt  and  can  only  be  continued  by  the  per- 
petuation of  that  debt.  It  is  to  the  interest  therefore 
of  the  national  banks  to  involve  the  public  in  debt 
and  to  continue  it.  It  is  necessary  for  their  continued 
life.  If  the  bonds  were  paid  they  could  no  longer 
exist.  They  hold  the  bonds  but  they  do  not  wish 
them  paid.  They  have  found  this  the  safest  and  best 
method  ever  invented  for  the  accretion  of  wealth. 

Under  Mr.  Cleveland's  first  term  as  President, 
the  query  w^as  "What  shall  be  done  with  the  sur- 
plus?" A  vast  amount  of  money  in  the  treasur}'' was 
a  temptation  to  extravagance  and  corruption.  The 
natural  business  use  of  these  funds  would  have  been 
to  apply  them  on  the  public  debt  and  stop  the 
interest.  This  is  what  any  capable  business  man, 
who  is  in  debt,  would  do.  This  'proper  use  of  the 
funds  was  resisted  because  it  would  destroy  the 
whole  national  bank  system  and  contract  the  cur- 
rency, and  this  was  regarded  by  many  as  a  legitimate 
argument.  It  was  not  hinted  that  the  banks  were 
about  to  contract  the  currency  voluntarily  to  serve 
their  own  purposes. 

If  the  gold  basis  is  to  be  maintained,  then  there 
is  no  escape.  We  must  issue  bonds,  not  merely 
$50,000,000  and  $200,000,000  more,  but  $1,300,000,000, 
and  double  our  national  debt  and  place  ourselves 
helpless  in  their  hands.  The  interest  will  exhaust 
our  mines  and  sap  all  our  productive  life,  and  the 
principal  will  be  fixed  upon  us  forever.  If  bonds 
must  be  issued  and  the  debt  increased  in  times  of 
peace  and  natural   advantages,   when  can  the  debt 

10 


U6  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

be  paid?  Our  soil,  mines,  forests,  all  our  resources, 
are  now  abundantly  productive  and  now  is  the 
time  to  be  paying  off  our  debt  if  ever.  Shall  we 
continue  in  debt  in  order  to  continue  the  banks, 
or  shall  w^e  abandon  the  s^'stem? 

It  has  become  evident  that  we  are  offering  a  re- 
ward for  our  own  bondage.  If  we  would  escape 
financial  enslavement  and  be  free,  the  time  to  resist 
and  act  is  now  here.  The  bank  note  issue  has  been 
contracted  for  a  purpose,  until  less  than  $150,0(X),0(X) 
are  in  circulation.  The  government  should  add 
direct  to  its  greenbacks  $150,000,000  so  as  to  avoid  all 
further  contraction,  and  then  remonetize  silver  at 
the  old  ratio  of  16  to  1  of  gold,  and  resist  all  increase 
of  bonded  indebtedness. 

The  national  debt  was  incurred  in  time  of  war 
to  meet  the  expenses  of  preserving  our  ver^'^  ex- 
istence as  a  nation,  but  this  vast  addition  to  our 
burdens  is  for  no'tangilile  purpose  except  to  main- 
tain a  gold  basis.  It  will  not  construct  defences 
along  our  coasts,  nor  build  a  warship,  nor  increase 
the  domain  by  irrigating  our  arid  wastes.  It  will 
not  build  a  good  road  nor  construct  a  bridge,  nor  im- 
prove a  harbor,  nor  erect  a  postoffice  in  an^^  city.  It 
will  onl}"  afford  the  bankers  a  grand  opportunit}''  to 
invest  their  vast  surpluses,  which  they  have  with- 
drawn from  the  channels  of  trade,  and  increase  their 
capital  stock,  and  perpetuate  theirpower.  When  our 
children  in  time  to  come, bending  under  these  burdens, 
shall  ask  for  what  purpose  this  debt  was  increased, 
the}^  will  seek  in  vain  for  a  satisfactory  answer. 
It  is  a  tiine  of  peace  w^ith  ourselves  and  with  all  the 
world  and  there  will  not  be  a  public  improvement 
of  an}'  kind  that  will  ow^e  its  existence  to  this  debt. 


NATIONAL  BANKS.  147 

It  is  not  likel}^  that  all  this  vast  amount  of  $1,300,- 
000,000  will  be  issued  at  once.  That  would  alarm 
the  people  and  bring  upon  tlie  actors  in  the  scheme 
public  odium  that  would  drive  them  forever  from 
power.  The  amount  will  gradually  be  demanded, 
but  there  is  no  place  to  stop.  The  first  $50,000,000 
of  bonds  have  been  issued.  The  so-called  reserve  of 
gold  is  lower  than  ever  and  gold  is  being  carted  out 
of  the  treasury  vaults  every  week  and  a  second  issue 
of  $200,000,000  is  demanded.  But  there  is  nothing 
to  hinder  the  banks  from  drawing  that  all  out  in  a 
day  by  merely  presenting  currency  and  demanding 
coin,  and  there  is  nothing  to  stop  this  process. 

If  this  is  permitted  and  these  bonds  are  issued  as 
now  proposed,  it  will  show  that  we  can  truthfully 
use  the  strong  expression  attributed  to  President 
Cleveland,  slightly  modified,  and  sa^'^  "the  banks 
have  us  by  the  throat." 

It  may  be  doubted  whether  there  ever  was  a 
justifiable  excuse  for  the  establishment  of  this  sys- 
tem; certainly  there  is  no  excuse  for  increasing  our 
debts  by  maintaining  the  gold  standard,  that  it  may 
be  continued. 

The  language  of  Jefferson  may  be  quoted  to  show 
how  strong  the  conviction  was  in  the  minds  of  our 
fathers,  that  national  banks  were  an  evil  under  any 
conditions. 

"Bank  paper  must  be  suppressed  and  the  circu- 
lation restored  to  the  nation,  to  Avhom  it  belongs. 

"The  power  to  issue  money  should  be  taken  from 
the  banks  and  restored  to  congress  and  the  people 
to  whom  it  belongs. 

"I  sincerely  believe  that  banking  establishments 
are  more  dangerous  than  standing  armies. 

"I    am    not    among   those    who    fear  the   people. 


PLENTY  OF  MONEY,    BUT" 


Customer.  I  have  worked  and  saved  and  got  the  interest  on  that 
old  note.  I  see  by  your  report  you  have  lots  of  money,  and  I  thought 
you  would  renew  it  for  another  year. 

Cashier.  We  have  an  unusually  large  surplus,  and  will  permit  j-ou 
to  renew  with  pleasure,  but— well— we  shall  be  compelled  to  ask  you  to 
give  us  some  additional  security. 

Customer.  Security  !  You  now  have  my  farm  and  home  and  all  I 
have  on  earth,  except  my  wife  and  babies. 

Cashier  (sj^mpathizinglj'  and  preparing  the  way  for  collection,  and 
for  hard  feelings  among  old  time  friends) — Yes — but — w^ell — you  know 
property  has  depreciated.  Now,  I  want  to  help  you  out  ;  can't  you  re- 
duce the  note  a  little?  Now — well— if  you  will  reduce  this  note  to  $1.0(X), 
and  then  have  it  signed  by  your  father-in-law,  Mr.  Smith,  he  owtis  that 
farm  by  the  maple  grove,  I  believe  ;  and  your  brother-in-law,  Mr.  Jones, 
who  owns  the  farm  across  the  creek,  and  those  good  neighbors  of 
yours,  Mr.  Harper  and  Craig  and  Johnson  and  Swan,  they  are  good, 
clever  fellows  and  will  accommodate  you,  I  know,  we  will  try  and  re- 
new your  note  for  ninetj-  days  and  not  charge  over  8  per  cent  interest, 
but— well— this,  I  must  say,  is  the  last  time,  positively  that  the  direc- 
tors will  permit  me  to  renew  it. 


150  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

They  and  not  the  rich  arc  our  dependence  for  con- 
tinued freedom.  And  to  preserve  their  independence 
we  must  not  let  our  rulers  load  us  with  perpetual 
debts. 

"  Put  down  the  banks,  and  if  this  country  could 
not  be  carried  through  the  longest  war  against  her 
most  powerful  enemy,  w^ithout  ever  knowing  the 
want  of  a  dollar,  without  dependence  on  the  traitor- 
ous class  of  our  citizens,  without  bearing  hard  on 
the  resources  of  the  people  or  loading  the  public 
with  an  indefinite  burden  of  debt,  I  know  nothing  of 
my  countrymen." — Thomas  Jefferson. 

The  message  of  President  Jackson  in  1834  reads, 

now,  sixty  years  after,  like  a  prophecy: 

JACKSON    ON    NATIONAL    BANKS. 
Message  December  2, 1834. 

"Circumstances  make  it  my  duty  to  call  the  atten- 
tion of  Congress  to  the  Bank  of  the  United  States. 
Created  for  the  convenience  of  the  government,  that 
institution  has  become  the  scourge  of  the  people. 
Its  interference  to  j^ostpone  the  payment  of  a  portion 
of  the  national  debt,  that  it  might  retain  the  public 
monej''  appropriated  for  that  jiurpose  to  strengthen 
it  in  a  political  contest,  the  extraordinarj'  extension 
and  contraction  of  its  accommodations  to  the  com- 
munity, its  corrupt  and  partisan  loans,  its  exclusion 
of  the  public  directors  from  a  knowledge  of  its  most 
important  proceedings,  the  unlimited  authority  con- 
ferred on  the  President  to  expend  its  funds  in  hiring 
writers  and  procuring  the  execution  of  printing  and 
the  use  made  of  that  authority,  the  retention  of  the 
pension  money  and  books  after  the  selection  of  new 
agents,  have  through  various  channels  been  laid  be- 
fore Congress.  They  were  substantially  a  confession 
that  all  the  real  distresses  which  individuals  and 
the  country  had  endured  for  the  preceding  six  or 
eight  months  have  been  needlessly  produced  by  it 
with  the  view  of  affecting,  through  the  sufferings  of 
the  people,  the  legislative  action  of  Congress." 
******* 


NATIONAL  BANKS.  151 

Again  he  declares  in  the  same  message  : 

"  Events  have  satisfied  my  mind,  and  I  think  the 
minds  of  the  American  people,  that  the  inischief  and 
dangers  which  flow  from  a  national  bank  far  over- 
balance all  its  advantages.  The  bold  effort  the  pres- 
ent bank  has  made  to  control  the  Government,  the 
distresses  it  has  wantonly  produced,  the  violence  of 
which  it  has  been  the  occasion  in  one  of  our  cities 
famed  for  its  observance  of  law  and  order,  are  but 
premonitions  of  the  fate  that  awaits  the  American 
people  should  they  be  deluded  into  a  perpetuation 
of  this  institution,  or  the  establishment  of  another 
like  it.  It  is  fervently  hoped,  that  thus  admonished, 
those  -who  have  heretofore  favored  the  establish- 
ment of  a  substitute  for  the  present  bank  will  be  in- 
duced to  abandon  it,  as  it  is  evidently  better  to  incur 
any  inconvenience  that  may  be  reasonably  expected 
than  to  concentrate  the  whole  inoney  power  of  the 
Republic  in  any  form  whatsoever,  or  under  any  re- 
strictions." 

The  Ivoco-Foco  platform,  adopted  in  1836,  says  : 

"We  declare  unqualified  hostility  to  bank  notes 
and  paper  mone^'^  as  a  circulating  medium,  because 
gold  and  silver  is  the  only  safe  and  constitutional 
currency ;  hostility  to  any  and  all  monopolies  by 
legislation  because  the}^  are  violations  of  equal  rights 
of  the  people." 

In  1840  the  Democratic  platform  took  strong 
ground  : 

"6.  Resolved,  That  Congress  has  no  power  to 
charter  a  United  States  bank  ;  that  we  believe  such 
an  institution  one  of  deadl}'  hostility  to  the  best  in- 
terests of  the  country,  dangerous  to  our  republican 
institutions  and  the  liberties  of  the  people,  and  cal- 
culated to  place  the  business  of  the  country  within 
the  control  of  a  concentrated  money  power,  and 
above  the  laws  and  the  will  of  the  people." 

This  resolution  was  re-affirmed  in  their  platform 
in  1844. 


152  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

• 

No  political  party  had  dared  to  champion  the 
national  banks,  and  the  Jacksonian  policy  had  be- 
come so  fully  settled  as  the  policy  of  the  government 
that  the  Democratic  party  in  1848  felt  justified  in 
claiming  great  credit  for  freeing  the  people  from  its 
"corrupt  and  tyrannical  domination,"  as  follo^ws  : 

"14.  Resolved,  That  we  are  decidedly  opposed 
to  taking  from  the  President  the  qualified  veto 
power  b}^  w^hich  he  is  enabled,  under  restrictions 
and  responsibilities  amply  sufficient  to  guard  the 
public  interests,  to  suspend  the  passage  of  a  bill 
whose  merits  cannot  secure  the  approval  of  two- 
thirds  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives, 
until  the  judgment  of  the  people  can  be  obtained 
thereon,  and  which  has  saved  the  American  people 
from  the  corrupt  and  tyrannical  domination  of  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States,  and  from  a  corrupting 
system  of  general  internal  improvements." 

In  the  platform  adopted  by  this  same  party  in 
1852  this  is  made  very  plain  and  very  emphatic  : 

"9.  Resolved,  That  Congress  has  no  power  to 
charter  a  national  bank  ;  that  we  believe  such  an 
institution  one  of  deadly  hostility  to  the  best  inter- 
ests of  the  country^  dangerous  to  our  republican  in- 
stitutions and  tlie  liberties  of  the  people,  calculated 
to  place  the  business  of  the  country  v^ithin  the  con- 
trol of  a  concentrated  money  power,  and  that  above 
the  laws  and  will  of  the  people  ;  and  that  the  results 
of  Democratic  legislation,  in  this  and  all  other  finan- 
cial measures,  upon  which  issues  have  been  made 
between  the  two  political  parties  of  the  country', 
have  demonstrated  to  candid  and  practical  inen  of 
all  parties,  their  soundness,  safet}^  and  utility  in  all 
business  pursuits." 

In  1856  the  Democratic  platform  announced  the 
same  opposition  to  national  banks  and  also  claimed 
the  glory  of  having  rid  the  people  of  the  burden. 
There  is  no  escaping  from  a  clear  understanding  of 


NATIONAL  BANKS.  153 

what,  at  this  time,  was  the  established  policy  of  the 
government : 

"7.  That  Congress  has  no  power  to  charter  a 
national  bank  ;  that  we  believe  such  an  institution 
one  of  deadily  hostility  to  the  best  interests  of  the 
country,  dangerous  to  our  republican  institutions 
and  the  liberties  of  the  American  people,  and  calcu- 
lated to  place  the  business  of  the  country  within  the 
control  of  a  concentrated  motiej^  power  and  above 
the  laws  and  will  of  the  people  ;  and  the  results  of 
the  Democratic  legislation  in  this  and  all  other 
financial  measures  upon  which  issues  have  been 
made  between  the  two  political  parties  of  the  coun- 
try, have  demonstrated  to  candid  and  practical  men 
of  all  parties  their  soundness,  safety,  and  utilit}^  in 
all  business  pursuits." 

"  8,  That  the  separation  of  the  moneys  of  the 
government  from  the  banking  institutions  is  indis- 
pensable to  the  safety  of  the  funds  of  the  govern- 
ment and  the  rights  of  the  people." 

"  9.  That  we  are  decidedly  opposed  to  taking  from 
the  President  the  qualihed  veto  power,  by  which  he 
is  enabled,  under  restrictions  and  responsibilities 
amply  sufficient  to  guard  the  public  interests,  to 
suspend  the  passage  of  a  bill  whose  merits  cannot 
secure  the  approval  of  two-thirds  of  the  Senate  and 
House  of  Representatives,  until  the  judgment  of  the 
people  can  be  obtained  thereon,  and  v^^hich  has  saved 
the  American  people  from  the  corrupt  and  t^^ran- 
nical  domination  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States, 
and  from  a  corrupting  system  of  internal  improve- 
ments." 

In  1860,  both  the  Douglas  and  Breckenridge  fac- 
tions of  the  Democratic  part}^  reiterated  these  same 
resolutions. 

In  1864  there  was  a  general  demurrer  to  the  con- 
duct of  the  war  and  management  of  public  affairs. 
There  has  been  no  distinct  recognition  of  this  old 
plank  in  the   platforms  of  that  party  since. 


154  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

Until  1860  the  partj^  was  most  open  and  pro- 
nounced in  opposition  to  all  forms  of  national  banks, 
and  there  was  a  general  acquiescence  in  this  as  the 
wise  settled  course  for  the  government  to  follow. 

When  the  new  emergencies  arose  in  1861,  and 
unusual  war  measures  were  common,  this  system 
that  had  been  rejected  for  thirty  years  was  presented 
and  urged.  It  was  not  passed  without  the  most  bit- 
ter opposition.  In  the  Senate  it  was  only  carried  by 
a  vote  of  23  yeas  to  21  na3^s.  It  was  adopted  only  as 
a  war  measure.  Efforts  were  made  to  limit  the  banks 
to  the  war  and  twelve  months  after  its  close.  They 
were  by  the  law  given  existence  until  the  war  debt 
should  be  paid. 

There  has  already  been  a  refunding  of  the  public 
debt,  and  the  time  thus  extended.  The  question 
now  is  whether  we  shall  hold  to  the  gold  basis  and 
reissue  our  bonds  to  perpetuate  their  life. 


HOW  LONG?  155 


HOW  LONG? 

ARTICLE     XIX. 

The  quer}^  "How  Long"  are  these  hard  times  to 
continue,  is  more  difficult  to  answer  than  "  Where- 
fore." It  is  easier  to  trace  effects  to  their  cause  than 
it  is  to  determine  results  that  shall  follow  from 
vague  and  ill-defined  forces. 

A  prophet  looks  into  the  future  and  sees  by 
divine  aid  that  which  is  beyond  mere  human  view. 
He  sees  that  which  is  not  indicated  by  an^^thing  in 
the  past,  or  foreshadowed  by  events  or  tendencies  of 
the  present.  Thus  Abram  saw  that  his  descendants 
w^ere  to  possess  the  land  of  the  Canaanites,  and  be 
numerous  as  the  sand  by  the  seashore.  There  was 
nothing  in  his  childless  house  that  made  such  a 
result  even  probable.  There  came  over  him  a^  hor- 
rible darkness,  and  he  was  shown  that  his  children 
should  first  go  down  into  Egypt  and  endure  severe 
bondage  for  400  years.  There  was  nothing  to  indi- 
cate that  so  hard  a  fate  awaited  the  children,  the 
heirs,  he  was  praying  the  Lord  to  grant  him. 

The  prophet  Ezekiel  looked  into  the  future  and 
saw  that  the  great  commercial  city,  Tyre,  was  to  be 
overthrown,  and  that  the  rocky  island  on  which  it 
was  built  was  to  be  made  bare  and  desolate,  and 
that  the  simple  fishermen  would  land  on  its  site  and 
spread  their  tents  to  dry,  where  were  then  the  busy 
marts  of  trade.  There  was  nothing  to  indicate  such 
ruin.  Tyre  had  been  the  commercial  metropolis  for 
ages.      Her  wealth   and   her  influence    were    great. 


156  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

Her  merchants  traded  in  ever3^  known  land. 
Her  defences  were  so  complete  and  strong  that 
every  enemy  that  had  ever  risen  against  her  had 
been  repelled.  Her  overthrow  was  quite  as  improb- 
able as  the  ruin  and  desolation  of  Manhattan  Island 
to-day.  No  unaided  human  eye  could  foresee  what 
Ezekiel  foresaw. 

The  philosopher  reasons.  He  studies  the  past 
and  the  forces  that  are  now  working,  and  the  ten- 
dencies now  shown,  and  from  them  he  determines 
what  the  future  shall  be.  If  he  sees  and  properlj^ 
considers  all  the  facts,  and  correctlj^  reasons,  the 
conclusion  is  infallible;  but  much, that  shouki  re- 
ceive his  attention  may  be  overlooked,  or  hidden 
forces  ma3^  be  at  work,  and  his  logic  ma}^  be  faultA^ 
and  the   conclusion  therefore  be  false. 

The  weather  bureau  takes  cognizance  of  the  con- 
dition of  the  atmosphere  in  different  parts  of  the 
land.  The^'  note  the  storms  that  are  raging,  the 
direction  and  the  rapidit3"  with  which  the  wind 
is  blowing.  The^^  note  the  rain  or  snow  or  hail 
that  is  falling.  They  note  where  the  sun  is  shining, 
where  the  clouds  are  gathering  and  mere  gentle 
zephyrs  are  stirring.  With  these  data  they  are  able 
to  determine,  with  somewhat  of  accurac}'',  what  the 
weather  will  be  in  any  locality  twentj^-four  hours  in 
advance.  But  the  bureau  knows  nothing  of  the 
home  of  the  storms,  nor  of  the  hidden  causes  that 
produce  the  change  of  winds,  and  the  cold  and  warm 
currents  tliat  precipitate  the  rain.  So  the  philoso- 
pher may  be  as  wise  as  he  will,  3'et  his  determi- 
nations for  the  future  must  be  ver3'  limited  in  time, 
and  ver3^  imperfect  in  description.  There  is  a  hid- 
den controlling  hand  that  guides  the  affairs  of  men. 


HOW  LONG  ?  157 

"There  is  a  destiny  that  shapes  our  ends,  rough  hew 
them  as  we  may."  "The  best  laid  plans  of  mice  and 
men  aft  gang  agee." 

Coming  then  to  this  question,  if  we  have  set 
forth  truthfully  the  "Wherefore"  it  may  be  confi- 
dently asserted  that  the  causes  that  have  produced 
these  "Hard  Times"  will  never  themselves  relax. 
Until  human  nature  is  remoulded  and  the  spirit  of 
self-sacrifice  and  good  will  becomes  universal,  no 
relaxation  need  be  expected.  The  stringent  bands 
must  be  broken  a.nd  they  must  be  broken  by  those 
whom  they  bind.  The  causes  must  be  removed,  and 
they  must  be  overcome  by  those  who  are  now  suffer- 
ing from  them.  There  is  no  superior  race  to  arouse 
and  defend  us  in  our  weakness.  The  negroes  were 
given  their  freedom  by  a  greatl}'  superit)r  people, 
who,  wisely  or  otherwise,  championed  their  cause. 
There  is  no  promise  of  a  Moses,  to  lead  us  out  of  our 
'strait,  raised  up  in  providence  and  divinely  quali- 
fied to  free  his  people  from  their  bondage.  We  must 
remove  the  cause  and  break  the  stringency  ourselves. 

The  sooner  this  is  done  the  easier  it  will  be 
accomplished.  Wrongs  un righted  and  injustice 
submitted  to,  has  a  dulling  and  stupefying  influence 
that  prepares  the  way  for  greater  oppression,  until 
submission  becomes  the  habit  and  no  wrong  is  re- 
sisted. The  independent  spirit  of  the  Hebrews  in 
Egypt  was  not  broken  in  a  day,  but  after  hundreds 
of  3^ears  of  oppression  they  were  utterly  docile  and 
claimed  no  rights,  not  even  the  right  to  life  itself. 
They  permitted  their  oppressors  to  walk  into  their 
cabins  and  pick  up  their  babies  and  carry  them  out 
and  drown  them,  like  boys  drown  puppies;  so  utterly 
broken  was  their  courage  and  spirit. 


158  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

There  was  no  one  among  them  who  had  aspira- 
tions for  freedom.  Moses,  taken  from  them  and 
trained  up  a  freeman,  had  his  soul  stirred  w^ith  un- 
controllable indignation  as  he  saw  the  oppressors 
compelling  his  kindred,  under  the  lash,  to  grind  out 
their  lives  ;  but  there  was  no  response  to  his  earnest 
call  that  they  should  resist  the  wrongs. 

The  longer  a  wrong  polic}'^  or  wrong  law  is  sub- 
mitted to,  when  its  injustice  and  evil  influence  are 
understood,  the  harder  it  is  to  correct  it.  If 
the  people  now  understood  clearly  the  causes  of 
these  depressed  times,  they  could  now  rouse  up  and 
remove  them  easier  than  in  any  time  to  come. 

The  first  work  is  to  right  the  w^rong  done  in  IS73, 
when  the  unit  of  value  \vas  doubled  by  demonetiz- 
ing silver.  This  wrong  can  never  be  fully  righted. 
The  thousands  who  have  lost  their  homes  cannot 
have  them  restored.  The  lines  of  care  and  sorrow  on 
the  brows  cannot  be  rubbed  out.  The  alienations 
can  never  be  wholU'  healed.  The  bitterness  of 
these  years  can  never  be  sweetened.  So  far  as 
possible  this  wrong  ma^^  be  righted  b3^the  complete 
restoration  of  the  old  unit  of  gold  and  silver.  To 
accomplish  this,  everj'  one  who  loves  the  right  and 
hates  the  wrong,  who  prizes  his  freedom  and  resists 
oppression,  should  bend  his  best  efforts.  The  strug- 
gle is  on,  and  the  settlement  of  this  affects  every 
man  and  woman  in  the  United  States.  The  settling 
of  this  is  the  determination  whether  our  boasted 
nineteenth  centur^^  Christian  civilization  is  to  go  for- 
ward to  a  still  more  glorious  consummation,  or 
w^hether  it  shall  now  be  counted  at  its  acme  and 
begin  its  decline  as  Greece  and  Rome  and  Spain, 
strangled  by  a  tightening  thread  of  gold  drawn  by 


HOW  LONG?  159 

those  who  have  only  narrow  and   selfish   desires  of 
personal  gain. 

By  renionetizing  silver  we  certainly  will  start  the 
rusty  mining  machinery  in  eight  of  our  Western 
States,  and  w^e  will  make  that  mining  profitable,  and 
that  must  be  a  great  public  gain.  Seated  as  the 
writer,  in  his  quiet  study,  midway  between  the 
factories  of  New  Kngland  and  the  Western  Mines 
and  having  no  interests  in  either,  and  centering  his 
best  thought,  he  cannot  discover  why  it  is  not  just 
as  advantageous  to  the  general  public  to  start  the 
mines  of  the  West  as  to  start  the  spindles  and  looms 
of  the  East, 

But  the  mines  are  of  far  more  importance.  They 
touch  and  quicken  ever}'  interest.  When  they  were 
paralyzed,  we  found  that  stagnation  began  in  every 
line  of  trade — the  wheat  and  cotton  fields,  the  wool 
and  live  stock  industries,  the  iron  workers,  the  rail- 
roads, the  merchants,  were  affected.  The  demand 
for  labor  of  all  kinds  ceased.  Start  the  mines  in  the 
West  and  you  start  the  mills  in  the  Kast.  You  start 
the  coal  and  iron  ^vorks,  and  courage  and  hope  will 
revive  among  all  our  people.  The  discouraged 
Northern  farmer  will  begin  again  to  whistle  over 
his  fields,  and  the  colored  Southern  tenant  will  sing 
his  plantation  songs  with  new  fervor  as  he  hoes  or 
picks  his  cotton.  The  3,000,000  unemploj^ed  will 
no  longer  roam  around  settling  gradually  into  va- 
grants, but  the  old  spirit  of  industry  and  thrift  will 
be  revived. 

Silver  should  be  remonetized,  too,  at  the  old  ratio 
of  16  to  1  of  gold.  This  is  larger  than  the  ratio  which 
prevails  in  Europe,  where  it  is  l^Vo  to  1.  Onl}'  in 
Mexico  of  all  the  nations  is   it   larger,   17  to   1.     The 


160  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

ratio  that  has  prevailed  for  ages  and  ages  is  about 
15  or  16  to  1.  At  times  gold  has  been  more  plentiful 
and  at  times  silver,  but  in  a  long  period  of  years  the 
world's  silver  and  the  world's  gold  have  been  about 
of  equal  value,  and  notwithstanding  all  that  has 
been  said  when  the  facts  are  tested,  at  this  ratio  they 
are  about  equal  to-day.  If  we  retain  both  metals, 
all  that  has  been  produced  for  the  last  tw^enty  years, 
there  is  not  enough  proportionate  to  the  vast  in- 
crease of  wealth.  There  would,  according  to  the 
most  conservative  estimates,  be  a  shrinkage  of  from 
ten  to  fifteen  per  cent.  That  is,  if  the  gold  and  silver 
of  the  world  is  to  bear  the  same  relation  to  the 
world's  property  and  commerce  that  it  did  twenty 
years  ago,  there  should  be  added  from  ten  to  fifteen 
per  cent,  more  than  all  the  gold  and  silver  mines 
coinbined  have  produced.  If  w^e  would  maintain 
values  with  both  metals  as  a  base  at  the  old  ratio, 
we  must  either  produce  more,  or  else  reduce  the 
weight  of  the  coins.  That  was  the  method  Solon 
adopted  when  the  precious  metals  became  scarce. 
He  reduced  the  size  of  the  drachma.  The  restoration 
of  silver  is  the  work  that  must  now  be  pressed  until 
accomplished;  but  the  fact  cannot  be  ignored  that  un- 
less there  is  an  increase  in  the  products  of  the  mines 
the  question  of  retaining  the  present  weights  of  the 
coins  must  be  settled   by  the  next  generation. 

There  should  be  safeguards  also  even  with  restored 
silver.  The  monetary  interests  are  too  nearl3^  re- 
lated to  all  that  pertains  to  human  welfare  to  be  left 
without  perfect  security.  Let  it  be  made  impossible 
by  manipulating  silver  and  gold  to  jeopardize  or 
greatly  darhage  the  commercial  world. 

The  ship  carries  a  number  of    anchors   to  be  pre- 


HOW  LONG?  161 

pared  for  any  emergency.  The  little  bower 
may  be  in  frequent  use,  the  best  bower  perhaps 
only  once  in  a  voyage,  while  the  sheet  anchor  may 
lie  in  its  place  voyage  after  voyage;  but  when  the 
storm  does  come  and  the  danger  is  great,  and  the 
smaller  anchors  drag,  then  there  is  pressing  need  of 
the  sheet  anchor  that  ^vas  carried  apparently  useless 
for  months  and  months — but  now  its  time  for  use 
has  come,  and  the  sailors  heave  it  over,  and 
it  grapples  the  rocks  beneath  Avith  its  mighty  fluke, 
and  the  vessel  is  saved.  Gold  and  silver  may  do  the 
work  in  the  commercial  world  in  times  of  peace, 
but  they  have  always  been  treacherous  in  times  of 
war  and  of  any  civ^il  commotion.  There  should  be 
some  best  bower,  some  sheet  anchor  that  will 
hold  secure  and  safe  the  interests  of  foreign  but 
especially  domestic  commerce,  even  in  these  storms. 

The  second  work  is  to  avoid  the  incurring  of  debts 
in  times  of  peace,  and  the  perpetuating  of  debts  that 
can  be  paid.  No  wise  business  man  incurs  a  debt 
he  can  avoid.  When  this  is  necessary  he  gives  his 
note,  his  own  note  and  no  more.  In  some  great 
emergency  only,  or  to  accomplish  some  naost  assured 
and  desirable  end,  will  he  place  a  mortgage  upon  his 
property.  Public  debts  have  become  the  fashion 
among  the  nations  and  are  encouraged  by  the  great 
money  brokers  of  the  w^orld.  They  bind,  and  in  pro- 
portion to  their  amount,  they  enslave  the  people. 

The  bonded  indebtedness  of  the  nation  was 
regarded  as  necessary  to  preserve  its  life,  but  the 
perpetuation  of  that  debt  is  a  crime  against  poster- 
ity. To  issue  bonds  to  preserve  a  theory  of  a  gold 
reserve  and  to  reissue  bonds  that  might  be  paid  off 
lawfully  by  the  millions  of  hoarded  silver  in  the 
11 


162  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

treasury  vaults,  is  such  folly  that  the  generations  fol- 
lowing, who  will  be  groaning  under  the  burden,  will 
call  us  by  hard  names.  Nor  should  there  be  leg- 
islation to  make  it  for  the  interest  of  any  class  to 
perpetuate  these  bonds.  It  should  be  made  to  the 
interests  of  all  to  have  them  speedily  paid. 

In  the  third  place,  the  currency  should  be  free  from 
the  possible  manipulation  of  individuals  or  anj'- com- 
bination of  private  interests.  We  endeavor  to  check 
all  speculations  in  breadstuffs  and  meats  and  the 
staples  of  life.  We  recognize  that  these  should  if 
possible  be  placed  be3^ond  the  reach  of  personal 
avarice  and  greed.  But  money  is  bread  and  meat 
and  clothes  and  education  and  all  the  comforts,  and 
also  all  the  luxuries  of  life.  It  should  be  free  from 
possible  interference.  It  is  the  blood  that  flows 
through  all  the  arteries  of  trade  in  the  whole  body 
politic.  When  it  flows  freely  every  part  is  invigor- 
ated and  built  up.  When  it  is  congested  there  is  at 
once  weakness  and  threatened  decay.  The  present 
banking  system  places  it  in  the  power  of  the  incor- 
porated banks  to  inject  into  the  currency  or  with- 
draw at  will  not  less  than  $500,000,000.  They 
have  been  for  several  years  steadily  withdraw^ing 
currency  from  circulation,  for  their  own  interests 
and  not  for  the  public  good. 

Black  Friday,  Sept.  24,  1869,  was  occasioned  by 
the  successful  effort  of  a  combination  of  speculators 
to  depreciate  the  currency.  One  dollar  and  thirty 
cents  of  currency  was  worth  one  dollar  in  coin.  The 
combine  threatened  to  depreciate  it  until  it  would 
require  two  dollars  to  be  one  of  coin,  and  were  so 
far  successful  that  it  required  one  dollar  and  sixty 
cents  of  currency.     The  attention  and  interest  of  the 


HOW  LONG?  163 

whole  country  -were  aroused.  A  tremendous  effort 
was  made  to  defeat  the  conspirators  by  the  mer- 
chants. At  last  the  government  came  to  the  aid  and 
placed  on  the  market  millions  of  gold,  when  the 
combine  gave  way  and  prices  stated  in  currency 
went  down  with  a  crash,  to  the  old  notch,  and  car- 
ried down  many  fortunes  in  the  collapse.  In  the 
language  used  at  the  time,  "  the  air  was  filled  with 
the  debris  of  lost  fortunes." 

Yet  this  manipulation  was  not  so  great  as  that 
now  possible  and  lawful  in  the  hands  of  the  national 
bankirlg  houses.  The  American  people  should  not 
rest  until  such  manipulations  are  made  impos- 
sible under  the  forms  of  law  by  independent  corpo- 
rations. 

These  results  will  not  be  accomplished  in  a  day. 
The  present  standard  of  values  has  been  established 
for  twenty  years  and  there  has  been  no  great 
movement  inaugurated  for  a  return  to  a  bimetallic 
base.  It  w^as  done  quietly  and  few  kne^v  for  years 
that  silver  was  demonetized,  and  the  fact  is  only 
no-w  coming  to  be  understood  by  the  people  at  large. 
This  fact  that  the  present  standard  is  gold  and  has 
been  so  long  makes  the  change  difficult.  Had  the 
gold  base  been  discussed  and  understood  at  the 
time  it  could  never  have  been  accomplished,  but 
having  gained  the  position  and  being  intrenched  \v^ith 
twenty  years  of  careful  work,  it  w^ill  not  be  an  easy 
task  now  to  restore  silver. 

The  banking  system  has  been  in  successful 
operation  for  thirty  years.  The  banks  have  gath- 
ered the  influence  of  Mrealth  and  intelligence  around 
them.  The  system  is  very  popular  w^ith  money 
lenders.     It  is  the  safest  and  surest  way  of  investing 


164  THESE  HARD  TIXES. 

and  accumulating  inoney  ever  invented.  The 
public  debt  is  to  them  a  blessing,  and  when 
the  alternative  is  presented  of  either  perpetuating 
that  debt  or  themselves  d3'^ing,  hviman  nature  would 
not  be  true  to  itself  if  it  did  not  seek  for  excuses  to 
continue  the  debt.  To  pay  our  debts,  strange  as  it 
may  seem,  the  people  will  have  to  resist  the  com- 
bined financial  interest  of  our  own  land.  We  have 
made  it  profitable  to  the  money  lenders  to  perpetuate 
our  bonds  and  bondage.  To  change  this  vicious 
system  so  tenaciously  held  and  defended  will  not  be 
a  short  nor  an  easy  task. 

The  greatest  combine  of  capital  the  world  ever 
knew  is  that  of  the  moneyed  interest  of  Frankfort, 
and  Lombard  and  Wall  streets.  The  power  of  other 
trusts  is  felt  to  be  irresistible,  even  overpowering 
the  government.  The  best  illustration  of  this  is  the 
w^ail  of  President  Cleveland  just  now^  in  his  letter  to 
Representive  T.  C.  Catchings,  of  Mississippi,  be- 
moaning the  unsuccessful  effort  to  resist  the  cor- 
rupting trust  forces  which  overcame  the  will  of  the 
people  by  corrupting  the  people's  representatives. 

"  I  do  not  claim  to  be  better  than  the  masses  of  my 
party,  nor  do  I  wish  to  avoid  any  responsibility 
which  on  account  of  the  passage  of  this  law  I  ought 
to  bear  as  a  member  of  the  Democratic  organization, 
neither  will  I  permit  myself  to  be  separated  from 
my  party  to  such  an  extent  as  might  be  implied  by 
my  veto  of  tariff  legislation  which,  though  disap- 
pointing, is  still  chargeable  to  Democratic  effort. 
But  there  are  provisions  in  this  bill  which  are  not 
in  line  with  honest  tariff  reform,  and  it  contains  in- 
consistencies and  crudities  w4iich  ought  not  to 
appear  in  tariff  laws  or  laws  of  any  kind.     Besides, 


HOW  LONG?  165 

there  were,  as  you  and  I  well  know,  incidents  accom- 
panying the  passage  of  the  bill  through  Congress 
which  made  ever}"  sincere  reformer  unhapp}^,  while 
influences  surrounded  it  in  its  latter  stages  and  in- 
terfered with  its  final  construction  which  ought  not 
to  be  recognized  or  tolerated  in  Democratic  tariff 
reform  councils.  *  *  ***** 

"I  take  my  place  with  the  rank  and  file  of  the 
Democratic  party,  who  believe  in  tariff  reform  and 
who  know  what  it  is,  who  refuse  to  accept  the  re- 
sults embodied  in  this  bill  at  the  close  of  the  war, 
v^rho  are  not  blinded  to  the  fact  that  the  liverj^  of 
Democratic  tariff  reform  has  been  stolen  and  worn 
in  the  service  of  Republican  protection,  and  who 
have  marked  the  places  where  the  deathh'  blight  of 
treason  has  blasted  the  counsels  of  the  brave  in  their 
hour  of  might.  The  trusts  and  combinations — the 
communism  of  the  pelf — whose  machinations  have 
prevented  us  from  reaching  the  success  we  deserve, 
should  not  be  forgotten  or  forgiven.  We  shall  re- 
cover from  our  astonishment  at  their  exhibition  of 
power,  and  if  then  the  question  is  forced  upon  us 
whether  they  shall  submit  to  the  free  legislative 
w^ill  of  the  people's  representatives,  or  shall  dictate 
the  laws  which  the  people  must  obey,  we  will  accept 
and  settle  that  issue  as  one  involving  the  integrity 
and  safety  of  American  institutions." 

But  the  combined  sugar  trusts,  and  iron  trusts, 
and  whiskey  trusts,  and  oil  trusts,  are  trifling  when 
compared  with  the  combined  money  interests  with 
which  the  people  will  have  to  contend  in  remon- 
etizing  silver  and  paying  their  bonds  in  gold  and 
silver  coin. 

This    combination    of   capital    manipulates  cam- 


166  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

paigns  and  secures  the  nomination  and  election  of 
its  candidates.  It  strives  to  control  all  parties.  It 
will,  if  possible,  defeat  its  enemies,  but  if  defeated  it 
does  not  abandon  the  case  but  will  turn  this  enemy 
into  a  friend  with  "golden  arguments."  To  defeat  it, 
it  is  required  that  those  who  have  right  convictions 
be  chosen,  and  those  who  have  sufficient  firmness  to 
meet  all  opposition  in  carrying  out  those  convictions. 

No  company  of  grain  speculators  watch  as  care- 
fully the  growing  harvests  and  the  promise  of  future 
supplies  as  this  combine  watch  the  drift  of  public 
thought  on  this  question. 

The  press  that  furnishes  the  reading  and  sways 
the  thoughtless  public  obeys  its  bidding.  The  dis- 
cussion of  the  financial  situation  and  the  causes,  is 
studiously  avoided.  When  forced  as  a  matter  of 
news  the  subject  is  at  once  dropped  again  and 
ignored  as  of  no  public  importance.  The  great 
financial  agencies,  Dun  and  Bradstreet,  have  per- 
sistentl}^  failed  to  state  the  real  issue.  To  review 
the  files  of  their  reports  for  some  years  past  would 
be  amusing,  if  it  were  not  so  serious  and  the  results 
so  sad.  The  people  have  been  accustomed  to  look 
to  them  for  a  statement  of  the  condition  of  business. 
The  depressed  and  distressed  condition  has  been 
stated  week  after  week,  but  they  have  presumed  to 
give  the  reasons  of  the  depression,  and  these  have 
been  mere  passing  whims.  "  Want  of  Confidence," 
"The  Sherman  Bill,"  "The  Tariff."  They  never 
tire  of  the  tariff.  "The  Strikes,"  "The  Coal 
Supply,"  "The  Wandering  Armies,"  "The  Presi- 
dent's Delay  at  Gray  Gables,"  and  other  reasons 
equally  idle.  They  have  also  uniformly  held  out  the 
illusive  hope  that  the  worst  was  over,  and   that  now 


HOW  LONG?  167 

the  tide  is  turning,  while  the  tendency  has  been 
steadily  downward  and  the  distress  and  stringency 
increasing. 

The  w^riter  is  reminded  of  his  father's  decline 
and  death.  It  was  well  understood  in  the  w^hole 
community  that  his  life  w^as  slowly  being  consumed 
away  by  the  fatal  ailment.  When  the  w^riter  w^ent 
upon  the  street  the  inquiry  day  by  day  'was,  "  How 
is  your  father?"  The  answers  were  varied.  "He 
rested  very  quietly  last  night."  "Not  so  comfort- 
able. This  wet  weather  has  been  unfavorable." 
"  He  unfortunately  ate  some  fruit  that  did  not  agree 
with  him."  "He  had  too  much  company,  and  w^as 
made  restless."  "  When  bright  days  return  we  hope 
he  may  be  around  again."  "  His  cough  is  less  an- 
noying." "  His  app'etite  has  returned."  "  We  do 
not  think  he  is  so  well.  He  caught  a  bad  cold." 
The  real  cause  of  his  unchecked  decline  was  seldom 
mentioned. 

These  commercial  reporters  well  know  the  cause 
of  this  stagnation  of  business  and  paralysis  of  all 
commercial  enterprise.  The  reasons  assigned  are 
but  the  w^eekly  prattle  about  the  small  things  that 
affect  the  bod}^  politic  in  its  decline  under  the  deeply 
seated  and  fatal  disease. 

There  must  be  a  concentration  upon  this  mone- 
tary issue.  Other  issues  are  pressed  by  conscien- 
tious advocates.  The  tariff  is  yet,  by  the  two  great 
parties,  to  be  the  matter  of  dispute.  While  some- 
thing must  be  said  on  the  money  question  in  the 
platforms,  they  are  mere  straddling  resolutions  or 
indefinite  statements,  like  the  prophecies  of  the 
Sibyls,  which  can  be  interpreted  either  or  any  way 
as  the  reader  may  desire,  and  ignored  by  the  speak- 


168  THESE  HARD  TIMES, 

ers  in  their  public  discussions.  After  all  the  disput- 
ing the  parties  stand  precisely  where  they  stood 
upon  this  question  half  a  century  ago. 

For  fully  fift}^  3-ears  the  Republicans  (Whigs  then) 
and  the  Democrats,  have  been  making  a  dog-trot 
on  the  tariff  treadmill,  and  to-day  they  are  on  the 
exact  spot  where  Clay  and  Polk  were  traveling. 
And  yet  how  little  difference  between  them  !  Read 
the  following : 

Clay.  Polk. 

"  Let  the  amount,  which  is  req-  "  I  am  in  favor  of  a  tariflf  for  rev- 

uisite  for  an  economical  admin-  enue,  such  a  one  as  will  yield  a 
Istrationof  the  ptovernment,  when  sufficient  amount  to  the  treasury 
we  are  not  enjjased  in  war,  be  to  defray  the  expense  of  the  gov- 
raised  exclusively  on  foreign  im-  ernment,  economically  adminis- 
ports;  and  in  adjusting  the  tariflf  tered.  In  adjusting  the  details  of 
for  that  purpose,  let  such  discrim-  a  revenue  tariff,  I  have  heretofore 
inations  be  made  as  will  foster  sanctioned  such  moderate  dis- 
and  encourage  our  own  domestic  criminating  duties  as  would  pro- 
industries.  All  parties  ought  to  be  duce  the  amount  of  revenue  need- 
satisfied  with  a  tariff  for  revenue  ed,  and  at  the  same  time  afford 
and  discriminations."— Speecii  at  reasonable  incidental  protection 
Raleigh,  June  20,  1844.  to  our  home  industry.     I  am  op- 

posed to  a  tariff  for  protection 
merely,  and  not  for  revenue.— ie<- 
ter  to  John  K.  Kane,  June  19, 
1844. 

Everybody  now  believes  in  the  old  Whig  platform 
tariff  plank  of  1844:  "A  tariff  for  revenue  to  defray 
the  necessary  expenses  of  the  government  and  dis- 
criminating with  special  reference  to  the  protection 
of  the  domestic  labor." 

Yetthis  old  straw  is  to  be  threshed  and  re-threshed, 
while  the  burning  monetary  question  receives  no  at- 
tention. 

Great  moral  questions  like  temperance  have 
earnest  and  conscientious  advocates,  yet  we  must 
not  let  our  attention  be  so  absorbed  in  fighting  this 
sin  that  we  permit  public  robbery. 

This  subject  must  be  understood.  There  is  a 
confusion  of  thought  that  must  be  cleared  up. 
There  is  nothing  mysterious   about  the  financial  sit- 


HOW  LONG?  169 

uation  that  it  cannot  be  readily  grasped  when  atten- 
tion is  turned  in  that  direction.  There  seems  a 
settled  purpose  to  confuse  the  public  upon  this 
subject.  Silver  is  not  money  because  it  is  sil- 
ver. It  is  monej^  onl}^  because  it  has  the  government 
stamp  upon  it  and  is  exchangeable  for  gold 
upon  presentation  at  the  U.  S.  Treasury.  It  is  money 
only  as  paper  is  money.  It  is  money  because  it 
■will  command  gold.  Money  might  as  well  be  made 
out  of  copper,  or  aluminum,  or  steel,  or  any  other 
metal,  as  silver.  It  is  the  stamp  that  gives  it  the 
value.  Yet  three  mints  are  running  to  full  capacity 
stamping  412.5  grains  of  silver  with  the  dollar  mark. 
This  is  being  pressed  into  use  among  the  people. 

Remonetizing  silver  is  its  restoration  as  a  meas- 
ure of  value,  so  that  the  silver  dollar  will  be  a  dollar 
because  it  contains  412.5  grains  of  silver,  not  as  now 
solely  because  of  the  stamp  upon  it  calling  for  25.8 
grains  of  gold.  If  all  the  money  in  use  in  the  United 
States  were  made  ol  silver  it  would  not  help  our  con- 
dition so  long  as  the  measure  of  value,  the  money  of 
ultimate  redemption,  is  gold  only.  If  the  govern- 
ment would  issue  only  paper  money  redeemable  on 
demand  in  gold,  and  collect  the  silver  and  sell  it  in 
the  market  as  bullion,  the  people  would  much 
sooner  understand  that  silver  has  been  destroyed 
as  money. 

The  only  method  by  which  a  change  of  financial 
policy  can  be  effected  is  by  voting  for  a  change  and 
then  following  the  representatives  until  a  change  is 
effected.  This  is  the  lawful  method  and  the  only 
lawful  method.  When  the  voice  of  the  people  is 
lawfully  expressed  and  that  voice  is  not  obeyed,  and 
the  very  forms  of  government   are  made  oppressive. 


170  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

then   our  fathers  declared   the    right  of  revolution. 

An  act  of  injustice  to  the  debtor  like  the  doubling 
of  the  standard  of  values  and  then  enforcing  the 
collection  by  the  arm  of  the  law,  is  oppression  that 
would  have  made  the  blood  of  "the  boys  of  '76"  tingle. 

Twenty  years  ago  Mr.  Jones  bought  a  small 
farm  for  $2,500,  which  he  was  to  pay  for  in  small 
pa^^ments  on  long  time,  $100  per  year  and  interest, 
for  twenty-five  j^ears.  For  twenty  j^ears  he  worked 
improving  the  place  and  paying  annually  the  inter- 
est and  $100  on  the  principal.  Then  sickness  came 
and  prices  of  produce  went  down,  and  no  money 
could  be  gotten  to  pay  interest  or  principal.  Mr. 
Shylock  came  to  him  and  said  :  "I  really  need  and 
must  have  the  money.  It  grieves  my  heart,  but  I 
shall  be  compelled  to  foreclose."  And  he  foreclosed 
and  the  property  w^as  sold  by  the  sheriff  for  cash. 
There  was  no  money  to  be  borrowed  and  so  Sh^dock, 
under  well  assumed  constraint,  took  the  property 
for  one-fifth  of  the  amount  for  which  he  sold  it. 

Thegovernmentby  an  act  depressed  the  property'-, 
and  doubled  and  more  the  debt,  then  took  by  forcethis 
property  from  the  man  who  had  paid  $2,000  on  it  and 
the  interest  on  the  $500  for  twenty  years,  and  gave 
it  to  the  man  who  made  no  claim  to  more  than  $500 
in  it.  This  is  paralleled  b^'-  thousands  of  cases  in 
every  part  of  the  land. 

Voting  on  this  question  is  the  remedy,  and  the 
remedy  notj-et  applied.  It  will  be  the  persistent  effort 
of  those  who  oppose  remonetization  to  avoid  a  vote 
on  this  issue.  If  fairly  presented  and  the  vote  fairly 
counted,  the  people  will  relegate  to  oblivion  all  who 
were  implicated  in  the  perpetration  of  these  wrongs. 

As  the   present   depression   was   caused    by  the 


HOW  LONG?  171 

change  of  standard  nione}^  while  other  reasons  have 
been  persistently  urged,  it  may  be  expected,  as 
the  agitation  increases  and  the  probability  of  the 
restoration  of  silver  as  mone}^  of  ultimate  redemp- 
tion becomes  assured,  that  prices  will  begin  to  rise, 
and  then  other  causes  will  be  assigned  and  the  plea 
made  that  it  is  not  now  necessary  to  restore  silver  as 
business  has  revived  and  confidence  has  been 
restored  on  the  gold  basis.  The  public  should  not 
be  deceived. 

Since  1873  there  have  been  fluctuations  and 
promises  of  prosperity  as  the  interest  in  silver 
revived.  The  small  rise  in  prices  in  1878  and 
'79  was  made  by  the  passage  of  the  Bland  law,  which 
brought  into  use  more  silver  and  looked  somewhat 
toward  its  restoration  as  ultimate  money.  When 
the  Department  of  the  Treasury  and  the  national 
banks  determined  not  to  use  silver,  there  was 
a     decline.  There    was      slight      revival      again 

when  silver  certificates  were  put  out,  so  that  by 
1889  there  was  not  more  than  $2,000,000  in  silver  in 
the  treasury  that  was  not  represented  in  the  cir- 
culating medium  in  the  form  of  silver  certificates. 
The  collapse  of  1892  and  '93  began  with  the  decision 
of  Secretary  Foster  and  his  associates  in  the  Cabinet 
to  pay  out  gold  to  all  who  demanded  it,  and  not  to 
use  silver  bullion  in  any  sense  as  money.  The 
know^n  antagonism  of  the  present  administration 
to  silver  and  the  assurance  from  the  passage  of  the 
bill  repealing  the  purchasing  clause  of  the  Sher- 
man law^  have  sent  prices  downward  since.  The  rise 
in  price  during  August  of  1894  for  a  ie'w  days 
was  attributed  rightly  to  the  introduction  of  a  free 
coinage  bill  into  the  lower  house  and  the  favor  with 


172  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

which  it  was  hailed,  especially  by  the  people. 
Through  all  these  years  prices  have  fluctuated  as 
silver  has  been  favored  or  ignored.  We  may  reason- 
ably expect  then  that  the  rising  of  an  interest  in 
silver  will  be  accompanied  by  a  "rise  in  prices, 
but  this  rise  w^ill  not  be  fixed  and  firmly  established 
until  it  has  been  restored  to  its  old  place,  with  the 
implied  pledge  that  it  will  never  again  be  displaced. 


ARGUMENTS  FOR  GOLD  BASIS.  173 


ARGUMENTS  FOR  GOLD  BA5IS. 

ARTICLE   XX. 

It  has  not  been  the  policy  of  those  who  have  de- 
sired the  gold  basis  to  discuss  the  question.  The 
policy  of  changing  the  basis  was  not  publicly  dis- 
cussed either  on  the  stump  like  other  important 
political  issues  nor  was  it  explained  and  argued  in 
the  public  press  by  any  party.  It  -was  adopted 
quietly  and  the  full  import  of  the  enactment -was  not 
appreciated  until  the  resumption  of  specie  payment. 
The  baleful  effect  was  felt  at  xDnce,  though  the  cause 
was  not  generally  understood.  Had  the  question 
been  argued  at  the  time,  the  demonetizing  of  silver 
could  never  have  been  accomplished.  Were  the 
question  discussed  in  the  press,  the  political,  relig- 
ious and  agricultural  press,  now,  there  would  be  an 
irresistible  demand  for  its  restoration.  The  writer 
has  been  anxious  to  consider  every  argument  that 
can  be  urged  on  both  sides  of  this  question.  His 
purpose  has  been  to  fully  -weigh  every  word  that  can 
be  urged  for  a  single  gold  standard.  He  has  examined 
every  book,  magazine  article  or  newspaper  paragraph 
that  has  been  within  his  reach.  He  has  found  that 
those  who  are  the  most  strenuous  supporters  do  not 
encourage  discussion  of  the  subject.  Many  of  those 
■who  have  been  acting  with  the  most  decided  of  the 
defenders  of  the  single  standard,  claim  that  they 
sincerely  desire,  the  return  to  a  bimetallic  standard, 
but  find  difficulties  in  the  way  they  are  not  able  to 
overcome. 


174  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

"The  Menace  of  Silver  Legislation"  by  the  director 
of  the  mint,  has  had  a  baneful  influence  in  perverting 
public  opinion  on  this  question.  That  article  was 
written  about  the  close  of  1890,  and  with  the  full  light 
of  thej^ears  of  distress  that  have  followed,  it  perhaps 
would  not  now  be  w^ritten,  and  yet  it  is  soniew^hat 
prophetic.  In  the  close  of  that  article  he  says:  "The 
suggestion  of  an  international  monetary'-  agreement 
is  too  often  looked  upon  as  an  evasion ;  but,  we  repeat, 
it  is  the  onl}''  solution. 

"It  was  by  the  combined  action  of  various  nations 
in  discontinuing  the  use  of  silver  as  money  that  the 
link  was  broken  between  silver  and  gold.  It  will  be 
only  by  the  combined  action  of  nations  of  sufficient 
commercial  importance  to  maintain  a  ratio  that  the 
link  will  be  united. 

"We  may  yet  entertain  the  hope  of  such  concerted 
action.  Eventually  the  embarrassments  arising  from 
the  attempt  to  use  one  metal  alone  as  the  measure 
of  value  and  the  medium  of  exchange  may  become 
so  intolerable  that  commercial  nations  may  find  it  to 
their  advantage  to  join  the  United  States  in  the 
remonetization  of  silver." 

In  his  official  report  in  1888,  page  102,  he  had  said, 
"Neither  metal  alone  exists  in  sufficient  quantities 
to  serve  as  a  sole  standard  without  causing  such  a 
change  in  the  level  of  prices  as  to  amount  to  a  finan- 
cial and  a  commercial  revolution." 

As  the  United  States  has  led  the  attack  upon 
silver,  and  there  is  not  sufficient  gold  for  a  sole 
standard,  the  United  States  should  lead  in  the  resto- 
ration. 

Often  the  defenders  of  a  single  basis  speak  of  the 
question  with  an  hauteur  and  arrogance  that  disdains 


ARGUMENTS  FOR  GOLD  BASIS.  175 

discussion.  The  proper  function  of  money  may  be 
studied  s;uccessf  ully  by  those  who  have  not  bent  their 
energies  to  securing  it,  nor  spent  their  lives  in 
handling  it.  There  is  no  occupation  more  contract- 
ing to  the  mind  and  narrowing  to  the  soul  than  the 
bending  of  every  thought  and  energy  to  the  gather- 
ing of  money.  The  farmer  quietly  following  his  plow, 
the  mechanic  at  his  bench,  the  Christian  minister  in 
the  quiet  of  his  study  without  personal  interest  in 
the  question  and  accustomed  always  to  be  on  the 
alert  for  that  which  may  be  helpful  to  men,  may  be 
presumed  to  take  quite  as  broad  and  careful  and  just 
a  view,  as  those  whose  ambition  is  solely  to  get 
money,  and  whose  waking  thoughts  are  absorbed  in 
devising  ways  and  means  by  which  it  can  be  done. 
The  question  must  be  separated  from  the  person 
before  it  can  be  fairly  considered.  If  a  cause  is  to 
be  submitted  to  a  jury,  that  jury  must  be  free  from 
personal  interest  in  the  decision,  else  righteousness 
will  be  perverted. 

This  high  argument,  of  assumption,  is  effectual 
in  overcoming  the  thoughtless  and  weak.  The  fol- 
lowing is  the  latest  from  a  leaflet  sent  to  all  bankers: 
"The  question  is,  even  if  it  were  w^orth  the  trouble, 
could  governments  be  depended  upon  to  regulate 
such  problems?  Governments!  What  are  they? 
Tribunals  full  of  people  who  have  no  intellectual 
interests  in  financial  subjects;  no  qualification  of 
any  sort  or  kind  for  dealing  with  them,  themselves 
elected  by  constituencies  still  more  unfit,  with  little 
conception  of  the  value  of  problems,  and  no  means 
^whatsoever  of  forming  practical  conclusions. 

"How  w^ould  you  like,    for  instance,  to  have  Mr. 


CO 

H 
Z 
UJ 

O 

< 


O 

a 

UJ 

> 

CO 

< 

D 
CO 

cc 
u 

Q. 


Satan  :    "  Money  brinjjs  honour,  friends,  conquests  and  realms  : 
What  raised  Antipater  tlie  Edoniite, 
And  liis  son  Herod  placed  on  Judah's  throne. 
Thy  throne,  but  gold,  that  got  him  puissant  friends; 
Therefore,  if  at  great  things  thou  wouldst  arrive, 
Get  riches  first,  get  wealth,  and  treasures  heap. 
Not  difficult,  if  thou  hearken  to  me: 
Riches  are  mine,  fortune  is  in  my  hand; 
They  whom  I  favour  thrive  in  wealth  amain; 
While  virtue,  valour,  wisdom,  sit  in  want." 

—Paradise  Regained. 


12 


178  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

Peffer  decide  these  problems,  or  Mr.   Simpson,  with 
his  sockless  financial  reputation?" 

The  strongest  argument  for  a  gold  basis  is  gold 
itself.  It  has  a  potent  influence  to  control  the  will 
that  all  arguments  that  appeal  to  the  reason  cannot 
overcome.  Even  scruples  of  conscience  are  soothed 
by  it.  When  promotion  to  a  position  of  honor  or  rel- 
egation to  obscurity  depends  upon  the  decision,  it 
can  hardly  be  unbiased.  Patronage  or  disgrace, 
affluence  or  poverty,  are  alternatives  that  do  not  favor 
an  impartial  judgment. 

Its  power  is  nowhere  more  clearly  seen  than  in 
its  control  and  direction  of  public  thought.  This 
question  is  not  discussed  but  ignored.  There  is  not 
ofteti  a  positive  statement  of  untruth,  but  this  ques- 
tion of  vital  interest  is  pushed  aside  by  irrelevant 
and  un worth}'  public  questions.  How  the  press 
reporters  have  filled  the  columns  with  the  Sherman 
bill,  the  Hawaian  question,  the  wandering  "Armies," 
that  would  never  have  wandered  had  it  not  been  for 
the  newspapers,  the  social  scandal  and  the  never 
ending  tariff.  When  the  public  thought  swings 
irresistibly  toward  this  subject,  it  is  intelli- 
gent and  enthusiastic.  The  people  long  for  a  full 
and  clear  discussion  of  the  sui)ject,  but  no  time  is 
lost  in  turning  attention  to  other  subjects.  There 
is  no  denying  that  gold  itself  is  the  most  difficult  of 
arguments  to  meet  and  overcome.  It  directs  public 
thought  and  threatens  to  relegate  to  private  life  any 
public  man  who  undertakes  to  refute  it. 

"The  change  has  been  made  and  the  evils  have 
been  suffered."  "Wh}'  disturb  the  standard  which 
has  been  for  twenty'  years  the  base  of  all  values." 

The  evils  are    not  over;    the}^   have  onl}"  begun. 


ARGUMENTS  FOR  GOLD  BASIS.  179 

The  policy  of  those  who  have  advocated  the  gold 
basis  is  to  give  rosy  pictures  of  the  near  future 
while  there  is  nothing  seen  upon  which  a  solid  hope 
of  relief  can  be  based.  It  is  interesting,  and  sadly 
amusing,  to  go  over  the  files  of  the  papers  of 
1893,  especiall}^  the  commercial  and  financial 
reports,  and  find  that  each  week  promised  relief, 
conditioned  upon  some  future  event.  In  August 
of  that  year  the  assurance  was  given  week  after 
week  that  "the  worst  is  over."  Immediately  on  "the 
repeal  of  the  purchasing  clause  business  will  revive." 
Business  will  revive  at  once  on  "the  settlement  of 
our  coal  strike;"  upon  the  settlement  of  the  tariff  "one 
way  or  the  other."  The  evils  have  been  thickening 
each  month,  and  all  these  promises  of  relief  have 
been  in  vain.  The  iornis  fatuus  lures  the  lost 
traveler  over  the  swamps  and  mire,  deeper  and 
thicker,  until  he  is  exhausted;  so  there  has  been  an 
alluring  encouragement  held  out  to  the  people,  while 
their  resources  of  strength  are  giving  way,  and 
their  hope  and  courage  are  failing. 

But  there  has  been  no  adjustment  to  this  new 
basis.  There  has  been  no  modification  of  public 
salaries  and  fees.  Railroad  fares  and  rates  of  freight 
have  not  been  divided  by  two,  nor  reduced  at  all. 
Bonds  and  debts,  leases  and  obligations  of  every  kind, 
are  binding  though  doubled.  Wages  have  not  been 
adjusted  and  cannot  be,  without  more  expensiye 
strikes  yet  to  follow  than  that  of  Hoinestead  or  Pull- 
man. Rents  must  be  lowered,  yet  often  debts  are 
pressing  the  owners  so  that  thej'^  cannot  be  reduced 
without  ruin.  The  only  parties  who  have  an  interest 
in  holding  the  position  unchanged  are  those  whose 
property  is  in  mone}',  well   secured,  whose  purchas- 


180  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

ing  power  has  been  so  greatly  increased,  and  those 
Tvho  have  a  fixed  annuity  or  salary. 

"The  standard  of  our  money  should  be  a  standard 
recognized  all  the  world  over;  that  standard  is  gold." 

The  force  of  this  is  based  on  the  assumption  that 
the  balances  in  trade  among  the  nations  are  settled  in 
money.  There  is  no  international  money.  Gold  is 
used  in  the  settlement  of  balances  as  a  coinmodity 
only,  and  is  weighed  like  iron  or  cotton.  Gold  bullion 
is  just  as  good  and  better  than  gold  coin  for  the  pur- 
pose. The  coin  will  be  melted  and  moulded  into  the 
coins  of  the  other  country.  We  need  not  wear  out 
our  dies  stamping  gold  for  international  settlements. 

In  commerce  we  exchange  the  articles  w^e  can 
spare  for  the  articles  we  need.  We  load  a  cargo  of 
goods  for  China  and  bring  back  a  cargo  of  teas  and 
silks.  The  cargo  taken  out  is  expected  to  pay  for  the 
cargo  brought  back.  If  the  cargo  taken  out  does  not 
fully  pay  the  return  cargo,  the  balance  is  met  with 
gold  bullion.  We  do  not  want  their  money  nor  do 
they  want  ours.  They  would  have  preferred  more 
ginseng  than  gold.  We  had  not  the  ginseng  but  we 
wanted  the  teas. 

In  our  commerce  with  Great  Britain,  closely 
allied  as  w^e  are,  the  balances  are  in  bullion  or  coin 
at  bullion  value. 

The  great  bulk  of  the  business  is  domestic,  and 
nations  are  accustomed  to  have  as  their  medium  of 
exchange  and  regulated  by  their  laws  that  which  is 
most  convenient  and  best  adapted  to  themselves. 
This  is  a  question  to  be  settled  for  our  domestic 
trade,  which  far  surpasses  in  a  week  the  foreign 
trade  of  a  whole  year.  Why  subordinate  all  the 
interests  of  the  people  to  an  ideal  purpose?     We  are 


ARGUMENTS  FOR  GOLD  BASIS.  181 

on  the  gold  standard  now  and  yet  our  gold  bullion  is 
weighed  out  just  as  it  was  on  the  bimetallic  basis. 

Silver  has  always  been  the  metal  of  the  people. 
It  has  been  regarded  as  their  friend  and  is  the  coin 
used  mostly  in  all  the  smaller  transactions  of  life. 
It  is  in  the  people's  pockets,  while  gold  is  and  always 
has  been,  principally,  piled  up  in  the  vaults.  Silver 
is  democratic.  It  is  wealth  distributed.  Gold  is 
monarchical.  It  is  power  concentrated.  We  may  be 
attracted  by  the  glory  of  the  concentration,  but  it  is 
unsafe.  The  Hebrews  desired  a  king  that  they  might 
be  like  the  nations.  A  king  -was  given,  but  in  wrath, 
who  cursed  them.  We  are  now  experiencing  the 
result  of  our  vain  desire  to  be  like  the  kingdoms. 
Why  did  we  not  cleave  to  France  —a  prosperous 
republic  and  always  our  friend? 

"The  bimetallic  basis  is  inflation." 

If  remonetizing  silver  is  inflation  then  demonetiz- 
ing must  have  been  contraction,  and  the  placing  of 
silver  back  in  its  old  place  would  be  only  restoration. 
If  the  creditor  class  would  be  injured  by  inflation, 
the  debtor  class  must  be  suffering  from  contraction^ 
and  restoration  would  be  an  equitable  and  righteous 
adjustment.  The  old  dollar  unchanged  from  the 
beginning  until  1873,  is  the  silver  dollarof  412.5  grains. 
This  from  1834  to  1873  was  more  precious  than  gold, 
and  all  debtors  met  their  obligations  in  gold  because 
it  was  the  cheaper  metal.  Gold  ^vas  then  for  40  years 
the  inflated  base. 

Inflated  currency  is  not  the  same  as  inflated  base. 
Three  mints  are  now  running,  coining  silver  dollars 
and  inflating  the  currency.  There  is  plenty  of 
currency.  The  object  of  this  coining  of  silver,  of 
full  weight  of  412.5  grains,  is  difficult  to  understand, 


182  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

unless  it  is  intended  as  a  kind  of  "pious  fraud." 
Why  make  the  mone^^  out  of  silver?  It  could  be  made 
much  faster  and  cheaper  on  paper  and  be  just  as 
good.  Every  dollar  calls  for  25.8  grains  gold  whether 
stamped  on  paper  or  silver  or  any  other  inaterial. 
The  inflation  or  enlargement  of  the  standard  would 
be  to  make  every  silver  dollar  a  dollar  because  it  con- 
tains 412.5  grains  silver.  The  contention  is  for  this 
enlargement  of  the  base. 

But  we  should  have  "sound"  money. 

The  money  is  not  "sound"  that  has  no  basis  on 
which  to  rest.  Monometallists  contest  to  the  last 
degree  the  theory  of  paper  money  without  a  metallic 
basis.  Mere  printing  of  money,  which  uieans  noth- 
ing definite,  a  name  only,  that  has  power  as  currency, 
butis  no  measure  of  values.  Their  own  position  is  not 
much  better;  they  urge  that  great  volumes  of  cur- 
rency shall  be  floated  on  a  metallic  base,  utterly  in- 
sufficient for  its  redemption.  This  is  the  condition 
to-day.  There  is  about  $1,000,000,000  currency,  aside 
from  the  gold  coin,  afloat,  and  all  calling  for  gold,  and 
no  gold  to  meet  any  part  of  it.  Even  the  borrowed 
gold  is  gone.  How  absurd  to  call  that  "sound" 
money.  It  is  but  little  sounder  than  irredeemable 
paper  money.  "Sound"  money  has  a  sufficient  basis 
and  can  be  redeemed  on  detnand.  On  a  gold  and 
silver  basis  ever}"  call  could  be  met  pronaptly.  Let 
this  be  the  policy  of  the  government;  and  silver  could 
be  paid  or  gold,  at  the  convenience  of  the  treasury, 
and  all  our  currenc}"  would  be  at  once  "sound"  and 
permanent.  The  present  money  is  big  but  it  is  not 
"sound." 

This  "remonetizing  of  silver  will  favor  the  owners 
of  silver  mines."       To    a    sincere    protectionist  this 


ARGUMENTS  FOR  GOLD  BASIS.  183 

should  l)e  a  decisive  argument  in  its  favor.  The 
mining  interests  in  eight  states  are  paral3'zed.  The 
machinery  is  rusting  and  crumbling,  decay  is  set- 
tling during  these  years  over  camps  and  communi- 
ties that  were  full  of  life  and  business,  and  this  is 
caused  by  positive  legislation,  that  was  not  asked  for 
by  any  political  party  nor  was  it  enacted  for  the 
public  good.  A  great  wrong  was  committed  against 
these  interests  that  should  be  righted. 

Aside  from  this  their  product  -was  for  the  welfare 
of  the  whole  people.  We  consumed  and  needed 
their  product.  Having  destroyed  it,  we  find  it  affects 
the  wheat  and  cotton  fields,  the  iron  furnaces  and 
the  factories.  No  interest  could  have  had  a  wider 
influence.  We  do  not  go  hungry  for  flour  because 
we  will  favor  wheat  farmers,  nor  in  rags  because  we 
will  favor  cotton  planters,  nor  cold  because  we  will 
help  the  coal  miners,  nor  in  darkness  because  we 
build  up  the  Standard  Oil  Co.  Why  should  we  pau- 
perize ourselves  and  go  penniless  and  lose  our  homes 
to  avoid  helping  the  silver  mine  owners? 

"It  discriminates  in  favor  of  the  miner.  Why 
should  he  take  forty  cents  worth  of  silver  and  have 
it  coined  into  a  dollar  ?" 

This  sounds  bright  and  smacks  of  wit.  If  every- 
thing is  to  be  measured  by  gold,  then  whoever 
brings  100  cents  worth  of  wheat,  or  corn,  or  meat, 
or  fruit,  or  iron,  or  lead,  or  silver,  can  exchange 
it  for  a  dollar.  This  is  no  gain,  no  advance.  The 
contention  is  for  a  return  to  the  old  measure  of 
values.  Now  25.8  grains  of  gold  is  a  dollar,  and  .258 
of  a  grain  is  one  cent.  Forty  cents  now  means  gold 
cents. 

The  dollar  of  our  daddies,  all  through  our  history 


184  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

until  1873,  was  412.5  grains  of  silver,  and  one  cent 
4.125  grains  silver.  Now  what  is  asked  is  that  the 
old  cent  and  the  old  dollar  be  restored,  the  old 
measure  of  values.  That  whoever  brings  100  old 
cents  worth  of  wheat,  or  corn,  or  meat,  or  fruit,  or 
iron,  or  lead,  or  silver  (i.  e.  100x4.125  grains)  shall 
receive  one  dollar.  There  is  no  discrimination  in 
favor  of  the  miner.  There  is  sought  only  the  resto- 
ration of  the  old  measure,  the  old  prices,  to  all  com- 
modities and  to  silver  as  w^ell. 

"Our  gold  will  leave  us."  Gold  is  leaving  us  now. 
About  three  times  as  much  is  going  from  us  this 
year  as  w^e  shall  gather  from  our  mines,  and  at  this 
rate  in  a  few  years,  with  our  single  basis,  our  gold 
will  be  all  drained  away. 

If  there  was  a  promise  of  relief  in  the  export  of 
gold  there  should  be  no  objection.  We  should  not 
make  it  a  fetich,  before  which  we  bow  and  for  which 
we  sacrifice  other  interests.  Gold  is  our  servant 
and  should  serve  us  in  time  of  need.  We  cannot  eat 
gold  nor  be  warmed  by  it.  We  can  only  be  blessed 
by  it  when  we  part  from  it.  If  it  does  not  serve  our 
need  in  distress,  we  might  as  well  load  the  whole  in 
a  vessel,  and  one  vessel  would  carry  it  all,  and  then 
tow  it  to  the  unfathomable  depths  of  the  ocean  and 
sink  it.  Better  far  than  to  retain  it,  a  menace  to 
society  and  a  means   of  enslavement  of  the  people. 

An  old  man  not  far  from  where  I  now  write  has  a 
hoard  of  gold;  he  lives  in  squalor,  his  house  is  a 
shed,  his  clothes  rags,  and  his  food  scanty  and  the 
plainest,  for  he  is  saving  his  hoard  of  gold.  He  is 
called  hard  names  by  his  neighbors.  Yet  we  are  told 
to  endure  our  suffering  and  make  the  best  of  it  or  our 
gold  will  disappear.      We  are   not   willing  to    stand 


ARGUMENTS  FOR  GOLD  BASIS.  185 

guard,  hungry  and  in  tatters  and  rags  to  guard  the 
gold.  Now  is  our  time  of  need,  let  it  serve  us.  This 
gold  is  held  mostly,  too,  by  the  banks,  which  have 
collected  it  and  gold  certificates  into  their  cof- 
fers, and  have  kept  the  silver,  so  far  as  possible, 
among  the  people.  Let  the  gold  go  if  it  will  bring 
the  desired  relief. 

But  why  should  gold  leave  us?  It  will  not  so 
likely  leave  us  as  now.  This  is  not  a  thef)r3^  but  a 
condition  that  confronts  us.  Yet  with  the  condition 
we  can  intelligently  seek  for  the  cause. 

There  can  be  no  question   when   we  examine  the 
decline  in  prices  of  these  last  3^ears,  that  the  depreci- 
ation of  silver  has,  in  the   markets   of  the  world,  de- 
preciated the  prices    of    all    our  products.    We  have 
taken  a  leading  part  in    that  depreciation   of  silver. 
Our  wheat,  cotton  and  all  our  products  have  declined 
until  in  the  foreign  market  they   do  not   command 
more  than  the  half  of  former  prices.      Our   national 
debt  and  our  municipal  and  railroad  bonds  are  largely 
owned  abroad,  upon  which  the  interest  must  now  be 
paid  in  gold;  but  our  cotton,  wheat  and  everj^  staple 
sent  abroad  does  not  pa}'  more  than  half  the  interest 
that  they  paid  formerl}^  that  is  they  do  not  now  meet 
the  demands,  and  there  is  no  escape  from  making  up 
the    deficiency    in    gold  bullion.      We   should   have 
plenty  of  goods  to  meet  all   foreign  claims  at  the  old 
prices,  but  now  it  takes   both   our  produce   and  our 
gold  to  meet  the  obligations.      Did   we   owe  nothing 
abroad  our  exports  would  pay  for  what  we  bu}'  and 
more,  and  gold    would    be  flowing  in   upon  us;  but 
when  we  pay  the  interest  on  the   claims  against  us 
more  is  required  than  we  can  produce. 

The  farmer  who  owns  his  farm  free  from  debt  can 


186  THKSE  HARD  TIMES. 

nowtake  his  produce  to  market  and  buy  his  groceries 
and  clothes,  even  with  the  low  prices,  and  have  a 
small  balance  of  change  to  take  home;  but  the 
farmer  who  has  a  note  at  the  bank  must  leave  all  his 
produce  to  meet  his  indebtedness  and  go  home  with 
the  bare  necessities,  and  also  the  consciousness  that 
his  debt  has  not  been  decreased,  if  even  the  interest 
is  fully  paid. 

To  turn  the  current  of  gold  we  must  get  better 
prices;  and  to  get  better  prices  we  should  protect  the 
pricing  material.  The  farmer  will  do  his  utmost  to 
protect  and  increase  the  price  of  his  produce.  This 
is  the  only  nation  on  earth  that  ever  depreciated  the 
price  of  its  own  exports. 

"We  will  be  flooded  with  the  world's  silver."  Why 
should  we  be  called  upon  to  throw  up  our  hats  and 
shout  when  gold  returns  to  our  shores,  and  go  into 
sackcloth  when  silver  is  imported?  There  is  no  na- 
tion in  Europe  from  which  it  can  pour.  There  is 
none  to  spare.  France  has  the  largest  suppl3^  $600,- 
000,000.  France  is  bimetallic  at  the  ratio  of  ISlg  to  1. 
Why  send  it  here  where  the  ratio  is  16  to  1?  Germany 
has  $145,000,000,  mostly  small  change,  and  has  noth- 
ing to  spare.  Besides  there  is  an  agitation  to  return 
to  bimetallism  that  would  check  any  such  tendency. 
The  United  Kingdom  has  only  $100,000,000  in  sub- 
sidiary coins  and  none  to  spare.  The  Scandinavian 
Union  has  only  $10,000,000  and  needs  more.  We  were 
producing  57  per  cent,  of  the  world's  supply.  It  is 
not  likely  that  silver  will  be  returned  to  us  while  we 
are  producing  at  this  rate.  Coals  would  just  as  soon 
be  carried  to  Newcastle. 

If  our  bonds  were  met  in  silver,  as  they  may  be  by 
the  literal  condition  and  understanding,  then  our  sil- 


ARGUMENTS  FOR  GOLD  BASIS.  187 

ver  covild  meet  our  bonds  held  abroad  and  we  could 
export  for  that  purpose.  Whoever,  until  this  day 
and  in  this  particular  instance,  hinted  that  it  was 
not  just  and  honorable  and  all  that  the  highest  in- 
tegrit}'  demanded,  to  pay  obligations  promptl^^  and 
exactly  according  to  agreement? 

A  small  pamphlet  in  a  gold-colored  cover  has  been 
widely  distributed  among  bankers,  entitled,  "The 
Gold  Standard;  the  Best  for  the  United  States: 
An  Argument  for  a  Single  Standard  of  Gold." 
A  number  of  copies  have  been  handed  the  writer. 
We  note  the  points   of  this  argument: 

"Mr,  President  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Liberal 
Club:  There  are  in  operation  throughout  the 
universe  and  coincident  with  the  community  of 
man,  certain  great  laws  which  are  as  unerring  in 
their  workings  as  the  laws  of  nature  herself,  and  no 
decree  of  man  or  State  can  swerve  them  from  their 
relentless  course.  Recognized  by  man,  given  full 
sway,  and  with  human  laws  conformed  completely 
to  them,  they  become  the  gentle  friend,  even  the  ab- 
ject slave  of  man.  But  thwarted,  withstood,  or  met 
with  dissembling  action,  they  become  cyclone 
breeders  of  disasters  and  bloodshed. 

"These  are  the  laws  of  trade  and  commerce. 

"Let  the  puny  populist,  raising  his  sacrilegious 
hands,  pipe  out  'Let  there  be  money,'  and  they  will 
grind  him  to  powder  and  scatter  him  with  the  wind- 
swept dust  of  his  Western  prairie. 

"Let  the  Assignat-maker  of  France  turn  loose  his 
worthless  decree-sustained  paper  money,  and  these 
laws  will  wipe  out  his  tribe  with  the  flames  and 
blood  of  a  revolution.  Distress  and  disaster  fol- 
lowin  the  wakeof  commerce's  laws  broken — mellow 
prosperity  ripens  under  their  sunshine, if  profoundly 
kept. 

"It  is  no  wonder  then  that  we  turn  with  much 
interest  to  see  what  history  records  as  to  the  action 


188  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

of  these  laws  regarding  the  standard  of  value,  and 
we  find  that  commerce  in  every  age  has  decided 
what  shall  be  the  standard.  The  decision  of  this 
centur}^  is  for  gold." 

The  indefiniteness  of  the  term  "commerce"  may 
here  be  noticed.  It  is  an  impersonation  of  some- 
thing. It  must  mean  those  who  manipulate  the 
monetar}^  interests  of  the  world.  These  interests  are 
now  gathered  into  the  hands  of  a  few.  The  struggle 
is  to  get  free  from  this  tyrann}^  of  "commerce"  that 
dominates  the  nations.  The  assertion  that  there  is 
such  a  dominating  and  controlling  force  should 
arouse  everj^  impulse  of  freedom. 

"England,  German}^  the  United  States,  Belgium 
and  Holland,  Austria  and  Russia,  have  recorded  this 
decision.  Says  the  report  of  the  Special  Commis- 
sion of  the  Austrian  Upper  House  in  1879:  Tt  has 
become  clear  as  long  ago  as  the  decade  of  1860  and 
1870,  when  Europe  was  becoming  saturated  wnth 
gold,  that  this  was  the  only  metal  fitted  to  be  the 
standard  of  nations  of  advanced  civilization.'  'Gold 
was  dominant  and  the  standard  of  value,'  saj^s  this 
report,  'in  all  trade  on  a  great  scale,  as  earl}'  as  the 
fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  even  though  sil- 
ver was  then  the  standard  in  all  domestic  exchange. 

"  'In  every  age  there  is  some  metal  dominant  in 
the  industry  of  the  world,  which  forces  its  way  with 
elemental  strength  in  the  face  of  any  public  regula- 
tion, and  in  our  day  gold  is  that  metal.' 

"Wh}'  has  this  decision  been  made? 

"Because  commerce  insists  on  the  best  medium 
for  its  own  requirements. 

"Commerce  in  this  last  century  has  needed  a 
metal,  precious  but  still  of  sufficient  quantity  to  be 
used  as  an  every-day  medium  of  exchange — fusible, 
ductible,  malleable,  easily  divisible,  indestructible, 
or  nearly  so,  and  of  vast  purchasing  power,  concen- 
trated in  small  bulk. 

"Has  silver  these  qualities? 


ARGUMENTS  FOR  GOLD  BASIS.  189 

"It  is  fusible,  ductile,  malleable,  divisible,  not  so 
easil3^  so  as  gold  but  sufficiently.  It  is  practicall3' 
durable,  not  so  nearly  indestructible  as  gold  but 
nearly  enough. 

"Has  it  vast  purchasing  power  concentrated  in 
small  bulk? 

"No.  Silver  has  not  vast  purchasing  power  con- 
centrated in  small  bulk. 

"During  the  deliberations  of  the  Brussels  Confer- 
ence, M.  Rothschild,  delegate  from  Great  Britain, 
says:  'Our  firm  have,  on  several  occasions,  been 
obliged  to  send  a  million  sterling  in  sovereigns  or 
bar  gold  abroad,  which  million,  when  packed  up, 
amounts  to  about  10  tons.  Is  it  likely  and  even  if 
desirable,  would  it  be  feasible  and  practical,  sup- 
posing a  ratio  of  20  to  1  were  established,  to  send 
200  tons  of  metal  at  one  and  the  satne  time?  It  seems 
to  me  that  the  operation  would  be  impossible,  and 
the  sender  would,  therefore,  naturall}^ elect,  or  rather 
be  compelled,  to  send  gold,  even  if  it  had  to  be  bought 
at  a  premium.' 

"It  is  the  old  law  of  natural  selection  and  survival 
of  the  fattest,  and,  for  the  same  reason  that  in  turn 
iron,  lead,  tin  and  copper  ^were  dropped, so  silver  has 
fallen  out  of  place  in  international  commerce. 

"And  yet  it  is  a  beautiful  metal;  so  surpassingly^ 
brilliant,  says  our  distinguished  guest  here  to-night, 
in  one  of  the  standard  works  which  have  made  his 
name  known  w^herever  money  is  made  a  study  of, 
so  surpassingl3'  brilliant,  that  it  almost  justifies  the 
preference  expressed  b}^  the  barefoot  boy  of  Sir  Wal- 
ter Scott,  'Give  me  the  white  money,  please.' 

"The  barefoot  boy  of  commerce  of  the  old  centuries 
has  grown  to  be  an  enormous  giant  in  these  latter 
days.  He  has,  perhaps,  lost  his  gentle  manners,  for 
now,  when  he  is  offered  the  white  money,  he  thun- 
ders out  the  demand  'Give  me  gold,'  and  he  speaks 
in  English,  German, French,  Hungarian  and  a  lot  of 
other  languages,  and  he  doesn't  say  'please.'  You 
would  think  his    thunderous    tones   would    frighten 


190  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

such  meddling,  blatherskite  financiers  as  Mr, Bland, 
but  thej^  do  not,  and  I  have  come  to  the  settled  con- 
clusion that  Mr.  Bland's  ears,  however  well  developed 
they  may  be  in  other  directions,  were  not  made  for 
hearing." 

The  argument  for  larger  concentration  of  value 
is  scarcelj^  worth}^  of  mention.  The  mere  conven- 
ience of  removing  large  sums  on  possible  occasions 
that  seldom  occur  is  of  little  importance,  when  the 
whole  monetary  interests  of  the  world  were  under 
consideration. 

To  move  the  $5,000,000  would  require  a  train  of 
fifteen  cars  of  silver  or  one  car  loaded  with  gold. 
The  concentrating  could  be  carried  further  if  thought 
convenient  and  transmit  the  great  values  in  precious 
stones.  Then  possiblj^  a  man  might  carrj^  a  million 
in  his  vest  pocket.  The  truth  is,  wealth  is  far  too 
concentrated  now. 

On  reading  the  above  no  one  can  fail  to  feel  that 
to  accept  the  secretar3'ship  of  the  treasury  would  be 
a  condescension  for  the  speaker. 

The  giant  "commerce"  of  to-day  is  vague  and 
doubtful.  It  must  be  the  great  monetary  combine 
and  the  numerous  trvists. 

"I  do  not  think  the  bimetallists  anj^where  denj" 
the  superiorit}'-  of  gold  for  the  purposes  of  the  com- 
merce of  to-day. 

"I  have  (juoted  from  one  of  the  works  of  Mr. 
Walker.     He  sa3's  further  in  his  volume  on  monej'': 

'*  'The  extreme  beauty  of  silver,  brightest  of  all  the 
metals,  together  with  its  numerous  applications  in 
the  econom}^  of  life,  make  it  an  object  of  admiration 
and  desire  among  peoples  in  all  degrees  of  social  ad- 
vancement. Easily  fusible,  highly  ductile,  pratically 
imperishable,  silver  would  have  tilled  our  utmost 
conception  of  a  money  metal  had  not  the  earth  yielded 


ARGUMENTS  FOR  GOLD  BASIS.  191 

one  transcendent  product  in  comparison  with  which 
even  silver  fades  from  desire.' 

"That  product  is  gold,  and  of  gold  Mr.  Walker 
says:  'Its  compendious  value  allows  a  vast  amount 
of  purchasing  power  to  be  concentrated,  for  conve^''- 
ance  or  for  concealment,  in  little  bulk.  A  small 
planchet  of  gold  has  the  power  to  command  the  labor 
days.  But  while  thus  precious  it  is  found  in  suffi- 
cient quantity  to  allow  of  its  convenient  use  as  an 
e very-day  medium  of  exchange.  Its  durabilit}',  fusi- 
bility, ductility  and  malleability  form  a  group  of 
properties  of  the  highest  importance  for  the  purposes 
of  coinage  and  circulation.' 

"The  choice  of  the  world,  then,  is  gold.  The 
question,  then,  it  seems  to  me,  narrows  itself  down 
whether  or  no  there  is,  and  will  be,  enough  gold. 

"I  desire  for  a  moment  to  leave  the  question 
there  and  briefly  to  cite  some  of  the  principal  objec- 
tions to  bimetallism. 

"GOVERNMENT    INTERFERENCE. 

"And  first  to  the  interference  of  governments 
which  would  be  necessary  in  the  adoption  of  inter- 
national bimetallism.  What  are  the  functions  of  a 
government  with  respect  to  standard  money?  What 
ought  it  to  attempt  and  what  can  it  properly  effect? 
The  best  thought  of  the  nineteenth  centurj^  among 
unprejudiced  economists,  approves  of  as  little  inter- 
ference of  governments  as  is  at  all  possible  in  the 
affairs  of  commerce.  We  have  had  some  sad  exam- 
ples in  this  country  of  disasters  which  follow  upon 
a  violation  of  this  principle.  Our  own  silver  bubl)le, 
which  had  been  filling  with  wind  since  1878,  has 
burst  at  last,  leaving  blighted  hopes  and  enipt}^  fac- 
tories, and  hunger  and  cold,  instead  of  the  soap}" 
rainbows  that  our  inflationist  statesmen  so  loved  to 
look  upon.  And  these  windy  criminals  are  still 
mussing  around  in  the  suds  endeavoring  to  blow  up 
seigniorage  and  other  silver  bubbles." 

He  spurns  government  interference  onl}^  when 
his  interests  are  likely  to  suffer.    Wliy  not  deprecate 


192  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

the  interference  in  1873?  The  whole  company  of 
manipulators  approve  that  act,  but  ask  to  be  let  alone 
now.  They  have  no  use  for  law  except  when  it  can 
serve  them. 

"And  now  as  to  the  experience  of  France.  It  is 
claimed  as  a  principal  argument  by  the  bimetallists 
that  France,  from  1803  to  1873,  under  the  free  coinage 
of  both  gold  and  silver,  was  for  70  3^ears  successfully 
bimetallic  at  a  legal  ratio  of  15i/2  of  silver  to  1  of  gold. 

"To  this  the  monometallist  replies  that  in  order 
to  be  trully  bimetallic,  gold  and  silver  in  a  country 
must  be  used  indifferently  as  a  legal  tender.  Care- 
fully prepared  tables  show  that  from  1803  to  1873 
either  one  metal  or  the  other  was  at  so  serious  a 
premium  that  they  could  not  possibl}^  pass  as  equiv- 
alents. At  a  premium  of  from  1  to  2  per  cent, 
no  man  would  think  of  paying  a  debt  of  $500  in  a 
metal  that  w^ould  cost  him  $505  or  $510  to  procure! 
And  that  was  almost  continuously  the  condition,  and 
at  times  the  variations  were  ver}-  much  wider,  run- 
ning as  high  as  71^2  per  cent,  in  two  instances.  For 
instance,  in  1813,  16.25  to  1,  and  in  1814  15.04  to  1;  or 
7I0  per  cent,  variation,  andabout  the  same  difference 
in^lSlO  and  1820. 

"In  1850  came  the  immense  gold  finds  of  California 
and  Australia.  Up  to  that  time  France,  since  1803, 
had  been  practically^  on  the  silver  standard,  and  gold 
w^as  at  a  premium,  except  in  a  very  few^  years,  at 
from  1  to  2  per  cent.  From  1850  on,  France  went 
to  the  gold  standard  and  stayed  there  until  1867. 
Then  the  great  change  began  again,  until  in  1874  she 
must  suspend  the  free  coinage  of  silver  or  go  over 
absolutely  to  the  silver  standard.  She  suspended  it 
and  to-daj"  is  on  what  is  called  the  'limping  standard.' 

"The  conclusions  are  that  France  was  never  trul}^ 
bimetallic." 

It  is  urged  that  bimetallism  implies  that  the 
metals  must  everyw^here  be  equivalent  or  that  there 
is    practicalU"    a    single    standard,  and     France     is 


ARGUMENTS  FOR  GOLD  BASIS.  193 

declared  to  have  been  practically  on  a  gold  basis  be- 
cause silver  was  at  a  slight  premium,  and  the  United 
States  is  said  to  have  been  on  a  gold  basis  since  1834, 
because  the  premium  on  silver  was  such  that  it 
could  not  be  coined,  for  gold,  so  to  speak,  was 
cheaper.  It  is  true  that  silver  w^as  not  coined  by 
our  ratio.  It  was  too  precious  to  coin,  the  1)ullion 
price  w^as  too  high,  3'et  the  standard  remained. 
Indeed  this  was  used  as  an  argutnent  to  show  that 
the  silver  could  be  removed. 

The  strain  upon  a  rope  may  not  be  on  each  strand 
exactly  alike  and  yet  if  we  undertake  to  remove  the 
loose  strand  we  destro}'  the  rope.  When  the  strain 
comes  the  single  strand  is  easily  broken.  The  house 
ma}'"  not  rest  down  with  equal  weight  upon  ever}'  pil- 
lar; that  ma}^  be  the  ideal  but  seldom  occurs  in  fact, 
and  pillars  may  be  removed  without  an  immediate 
apparent  damage,  yet  when  the  storm  and  strain 
come  and  the  foundation  is  tried,  the  necessity  of 
the  destroyed  pillar  is  easily  seen.  So  silver  was 
taken  awa}^  but  when  the  full  strain  and  weight  came 
upon  gold  there  was  nothing  to  come  to  its  aid;  no 
pillar  to  check  its  fall,  and  the  whole  commercial 
fabric  collapsed. 

Complete  equivalents  are  not  possible,  nor  is  it 
necessary  that  the  two  shall  be  in  general  use  in 
the  same  country.  The  precious  metals  must  do 
the  business  of  the  whole  world.  It  is  not  necessary 
that  the  same  metal  shall  be  in  use  in  every  land.  The 
exclusive  use  of  one  metal  in  a  country  leaves  the 
other  metal  free  to  flow  into  another.  This  is  the 
reason  Great  Britain  could  so  long  maintain  a  single 
gold  standard  because  all  the  wo^ld  beside  used  both 
gold  and  silver   and   inore    silver  than   gold,  so  that 

13 


194  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

the  exclusive  use   of  gold   in    the    United  Kingdom 
caused  little  inconvenience. 

Wheat,  oats  and  corn  may  be  the  base,  in  a  manner, 
of  human  vegetable  food.  It  is  not  necessary'  that 
in  all  countries  they  be  held  in  equal  esteem  and  be 
used  as  interchangeable  equivalents.  We  can  let  the 
Scotchman  have  his  oats,  and  the  Englishman  his 
flour,  and  the  American  his  corn-meal,  and  these 
cereals  go  as  far  as  if  we  should  attempt  to  make  the 
Sotchman  choke  himself  upon  our  mush,  or  anno3'" 
the  Englishman  by  compelling  him  to  take  his  por- 
tion of  the  oat-meal,  which  he  loathes.  The  corner 
comes  on  a  grain  when  all  peoples  use  the  same 
cereal.  We  could  make  a  great  tnarket  for  our  corn 
if  we  could  keep  the  nations  from  using  wheat  and 
oats. 

If  Mexico  uses  silver  only,  then  gold  is  free  to  be 
used  elsewhere,  but  the  ratio  is  maintained.  If 
Austria-Hungary  decided  not  to  use  silver  longer  but 
to  buy  gold,  then  her  silver  is  free  to  flow  elsewhere. 
The  strain  comes  when  there  is  this  general  move- 
ment to  one  metal  which  our  own  government  was 
among  the  first  to  inaugurate.  For  us  to  use  only 
gold  as  money  at  the  dictation  of  another  nation,  is  as 
absurd  as  to  stop  eating  corn  and  oat-meal  and 
change  our  diet  to  that  of  beef  and  wheat  bread 
because  that  is  the  staff  of  life  in  that  country. 
This  slavish  acceptance  of  a  gold  standard  because 
it  is  English  has  no  better  foundation. 

FALL   OF    PRICES. 

"Now  as  to  the  fall  in  prices  brought  about  by 
scarcity-  of  gold,  the  inonometallists  claim  that  in  the 
last  fifteen  j^ears  gold  prices  have  fallen  twenty  per 
cent,  while  silver  prices  have   remained  unchanged. 


ARGUMENTS  FOR  GOLD  BASIS.  195 

If  then  the  two  had  been  Hnked  together  tlie  fall 
would  have  been  one-half,  that  is  ten  per  cent.  If, 
in  other  words,  we  had  had  international  bimetal- 
lism, there  would  anywa^^  have  been  a  fall  in  prices 
of  ten  per  cent,  in  the  last  fifteen  years.  The  evil  then 
(and  it  is  claimed  b}^  some  that  it  is  not  an  evil)  of 
falling  prices  could  not  have  been  prevented.  This 
evil  will  go  on  any  waj^  say  probabl}-  to  the  extent 
of  ten  per  cent,  in  fifteen  years,  and  it  must  be  met. 
Great  gold  discoveries  or  great  extension  of  bank 
paper  temporarily  prevent,  but  the  fall  afterward 
continues,  and  bimetallism  cannot  stop  it, 

"There  is,  however,  quite  a  ray  of  hope,  as  I  shall 
afterwards  show,  in  the  increase  in  gold  production 
in  the  last  tw'o  years. 

"There  is  a  great  deal  of  talk  about  the  distressed 
condition  of  the  world  ascribed  to  the  fall  of  prices 
and  used  by  the  bimetallists  as  a  grand  argument, 
but  Mr.  David  A.  Wells,  that  most  distinguished 
economist,  accounts  for  the  fall  in  price  of  all  staple 
articles  of  commerce,  which  really  have  fallen  dur- 
ing the  last  twenty  3'ears,  b}^  the  econoni}^  of  pro- 
duction and  the  economj^  of  transportation." 

This  is  a  dear  admission  that  both  metals  com- 
bined are  not  sufficient  to  keep  the  ratio  of  money 
to  propert}^,  which  we  have  endeavored  to  show  in 
the  preceding  pages. 

"Mr.  Atkinson  also  sa3's  :  'The  gold  standard's 
great  and  complete  justification  in  this  countr3'  is  to 
be  found  in  the  fact  that  since  specie  pa^^ment  was 
re-established  upon  the  gold  unit  of  value  on  the  1st 
of  Januar}^  1879,  there  has  been  a  progressive  and 
almost  continuous  reduction  in  the  prices  of  the 
necessaries  of  life  accompanied  b}^  such  improve- 
ments due  to  science  and  invention  in  their  produc- 
tion, that  there  is  not  a  single  important  article  that 
can  be  named  of  which  the  reduction  in  price  is  not 
more  than  justified  b3^  the  reduction  in  cost  due  to 
labor-saving       improvements,     which     have      been 


198  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

applied  either  to  primary  or  secondary  production 
and  to  distribution  since  that  date  or  since  1873.  On 
the  other  hand, the  lawful  unit  of  value,  a  gold  dollar, 
is  completely  justified  by  the  benefit  which  has 
ensued  from  its  adoption,  to  that  great  majority  of 
the  working  people  of  this  country,  who  earn  their 
daily  bread  through  salaries,  earnings  or  wages.'  " 

If  wages  could  continue  at  silver  prices  and  neces- 
sities be  bought  at  gold  prices,  then  of  course  more 
can  be  bought;  but  the  quer}^  is,  how  labor  can  have 
the  same  reward  and  yet  the  products  of  labor  be 
cheapened.  This  quotation  of  the  speaker  from  Mr. 
Atkinson  was  likel}^  written  before  the  3,000,000  of 
laborers  lost  their  places  and  the  aggregate  wages  of 
all  labor  was  reduced  one-half. 

"Mr.  White,  replying  to  the  argument  that 
national  and  state  debts  are  enhanced  by  the  gold 
standard,  wants  to  know  why  the  standard  of  value 
for  all  the  countless,  daily  business  transactions 
should  be  changed  simply  to  meet  this  point,  when 
the  clearings  for  one  week  in  the  United  States 
amount  to  about  $1,100,000,000.  which  is  about  double 
the  interest-bearing  debt  of  the  nation.  He  says: 
'Add  to  this  the  paj^ment  of  wages  and  the  retail 
transactions  not  embraced  in  the  clearings,  and  mul- 
tiply it  by  the  fift3^-two  weeks  of  the  year,  and  you 
will  see  how  large  a  cannon  you  are  loading  to  kill 
a  mosquito  and  w^hat  a  tremendous  recoil  it  must 
have.'  " 

This,  like  the  quotation  from  Mr,  Atkinson,  was 
w^ritten  by  Mr.  White  likely  before  the  effects  reached 
down  to  all  the  minute  transactions  of  daily  trade. 
Were  this  carefully  reviewed  by  him  now  he  could 
see  that  the  evils  in  the  every-day  transactions  sur- 
pass by  hundreds  of  millions  that  which  he  foresaw 
so  clearly  in  the  increase  of  the  public  debt.    Distress 


ARGUMENTS  FOR  GOLD  BASIS.  197 

in  individuals  infinitely  surpasses  that  of  the  nation 
at  large. 

SUPPLY    OF   GOLD. 

"I  would  like  now  to  turn  back  to  the  conclusion 
reached  in  the  early  part  of  this  address,  namely,  that 
the  question  has  narrowed  down  to  whether  or  not 
thereis  or  will  be  gold  enough  for  the  gold  standard? 
On  this  point  a  recent  article  on  the  production  of 
gold  throws  pertinent  and  most  encouraging  light. 
It  is  shown  that  the  gold  production  in  1892  was  $138,- 
000,000,  which  is  more  than  the  average  of  the  great 
years  from  1850  to  1800 ;  that  the  production  for 
1893  will  probably  show  $150,000,000,  an  increase 
even  over  1892  ;  that  this  increase  comes  largely 
from  the  recently  discovered  South  African  gold 
fields,  that  the3^  niay  be  expected  to  constantl3^ 
increase,  and  will  probably  not  reach  their  maximum 
figures  for  the  next  thirty  years.  Those  who  know 
the  country  well  think  that  there  is  a  gold  field  in 
the  Transvaal  that  will  not  be  exhausted  for  cen- 
turies, and  that  the  output  now  ranging  between 
$20,000,000  and  $30,000,000  will  be  increased  in  three  or 
four  years  to  $50,000,000,  and  that  this  can  be  kept  up 
for  a  generation  from  these  mines  alone,  which  are 
now  being  worked.  What  with  new  processes 
enabling  ore  containing  onl^^  $2.00  in  gold  a  ton  to 
be  worked  profitably,  and  a  steady  increase,  guaran- 
teed from  Africa,  Mr.  Fraenkel,  the  author  of  the 
article,  concludes:  'It  is  not  impossible  that  in  a 
few  years  a  quantity  of  gold  not  far  from  $100,000,000 
will  be  available  for  monetarj^  use.  If  this  should 
prove  true,  it  would  seem  futile  to  speak  of  an 
impending  scarcit}"  of  gold.'  " 

This  whole  estimate  of  the  world's  supply  is 
based  upon  theory.  Of  all  things  theorizing  on  gold 
mining  is  the  most  unreliable.  Chevalier  argued  so 
learnedly  that  Germany  demonetized  gold  in  1857- 
We  know  his  blunders  were  very  great  when  he 
assumed  that  California's  gold  would  continue  and  in- 


198  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

crease.  This  writer  guesses  at  the  output  of  unknown 
fields  that  may  be  discovered  in  the  only  portion  of 
the  earth   that    has   not    been  thoroughly  explored. 
"Why    has  this  been  chosen  ?      Let  me   give   Mr. 
Atkinson's  own   words:      Because  the  unit  of  gold  is 
the  safest,  surest,  least  costly,  and   most  convenient 
standard  and  method  of  determining  the  relation  of 
one  commodity  to  others,  in   the   exchange  in  which 
commerce  consists.      If  it   had   not  been   the  safest 
and  best  unit,  some  other  would   have  been   discov- 
ered and  adopted.      This   unit  or  standard  of  value 
has    been    slowly    developed    as     an    international 
measure  in  the  progress  of  mankind,  without  regard 
to  legislation  of  any  kind,  and  without  the  interven- 
tion or  interference  of  any  act  of  the  legal  tender." 
Safest  and  surest  for  whom?     For  "commerce?" 
"The    distress     and     misery     of    falling    prices 
appeal  to    us,    but  although   the   bewildered   Dame 
charged    it   to    cowardice,    we    of   commerce    would 
'  rather  bear  the  ills  we  have  than  fl}^  to  others  that 
we   know    not  of.'      Let    us    by    private    and    public 
charity  do  all  we  can  to  relieve  the  world's  distress  ; 
but  here   in  this   favored    land   let   us   accept  open- 
handed   the  golden  prosperity   which   commerce   is 
ready  to  pour  down  to  us,  firmly  convinced  that  gold, 
the  best,   is  none  too  good  for  Americans." 
.     That  is  :  This  gold  business   has   caused   endless 
wretchedness,  but  "  we  of  commerce  "  would  prefer 
to  accept  the  situation  and  take  the   profit,  and  then 
by  our  charity  as  our  hearts  are  touched  by  the  mis- 
ery "  we  of  commerce"  have  caused,  come  to  the  help 
as  best  we  can  of  the  pitiable  sufferers.     There  must 
be  justice  before  mercy  can  be  shown.      We  cannot 
oppress  and  rob  with  one  hand  and   make  a  right- 
eous   balance    by    gifts    of    charity  with    the    other. 
Neither  the  moral  law  nor  the  golden  rule  will  per- 
mit it;  yet  this  is  the  final  exhortation  of  this  widely 
distributed  address. 


I 

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///'imm 


200  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 


ADDENDA. 

I. 
UNITED  STATES. 

The  declarations  of  the  four  national  political 
parties,  in  their  platforms  in  1892,  upon  the  mone- 
tary question,  are  as  follows  : 

DEMOCRATIC. 

"7.  We  denounce  the  Republican  legislation 
known  as  the  Sherman  act  of  1890,  as  a  cowardl}- 
makeshift,  fraught  with  possibilities  of  danger  in 
the  future, which  should  make  all  of  its  supporters,  as 
well  as  its  author,  anxious  for  its  speedy  repeal.  We 
hold  to  the  use  of  both  gold  and  silver  as  the  stand- 
ard money  of  the  country,  and  to  the  coinage  of 
both  gold  and  silver  without  discrimination  against 
either  metal  or  charge  of  mintage,  but  the  dollar 
unit  of  coinage  of  both  metals  must  be  of  equal  in- 
trinsic and  exchangeable  value  or  be  adjusted 
through  international  agreement,  or  by  such  safe- 
guards of  legislation  as  shall  insure  the  maintenance 
of  the  parit}^  of  the  two  metals,  and  the  equal  power 
of  ever}^  dollar  at  all  times  in  the  markets  and  in  the 
payment  of  debts;  and  we  demand  that  all  paper 
currenc3'  shall  be  kept  at  par  with  and  redeemable 
in  such  coin.  We  insist  upon  this  policy  as  espe- 
cially necessary  for  the  protection  of  the  farmers  and 
laboring  classes,  the  first  and  most  defenceless  vic- 
tims of  unstable  money  and  a  fluctuating  currency. 

"8.  We  recommend  that  the  prohibitory  10  per 
cent,  tax  on  State  bank  issues  be  repealed." 

While  many  regard  this  as  a  clear  assertion  of 
support  of  the  free  coinage  of  silver,  yet  it  is  fair  to 
say  that  Mr.  Cleveland,  nominated  upon  this  platform, 


ADDJiNDA.  201 

TV'as  known  at  the  time  to  be  a  decided  monoinetal- 
list. 

REPUBLICAN. 

"The  American  people  from  tradition  and  inter- 
est favor  bimetallism,  and  the  Republican  part}^  de- 
mands the  use  of  both  gold  and  silver  as  standard 
money,  such  restrictions  to  be  determined  by  con- 
templation of  values  of  the  two  metals,  so  that  the 
purchasing  and  debt-paying  power  of  the  dollar, 
whether  of  silver,  gold  or  paper,  shall  be  equal  at  all 
times." 

This  demand  for  the  use  of  both  gold  and  silver 

as  "standard"  money  was  not  understood  as  calling 

for  a  return  to  the  double  standard. 

PROHIBITION. 

"The  money  of  the  countr}'  should  be  issued  by 
the  General  Government  onl}-,  and  in  sufficient 
quantity  to  meet  the  demands  of  business  and  give 
full  opportunity  for  the  employment  of  labor.  To 
this  end  an  increase  in  the  volume  of  monej^  is  de- 
manded. No  individual  or  corporation  should  be 
allowed  to  make  an^^  profit  through  its  issue.  It 
should  be  made  a  legal  tender  for  the  paj'ment  of 
all  debts,  public  and  private.  Its  volume  should  be 
fixed  at  a  definite  sum  per  capita  and  made  to  in- 
crease with  population." 

This  plank  in  the  platform  was  so  subordinate  to 

the  temperance   idea   that  it  received   no   attention 

and  was  not  publicly" discussed  in  the  campaign. 

people's. 

"The  national  power  to  create  monej^  is  appro- 
priated to  enrich  bondholders.  A  vast  public  debt, 
payable  in  legal  tender  currency,  has  been  funded 
into  gold  interest-bearing  bonds,  thereb3^  adding 
millions  to  the  burdens  of  the  people.  Silver,  which 
has  been  accepted  as  coin  since  the  dawn  of  histor^^ 
has    been    demonetized    to    add    to    the    purchasing 


202  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

power  of  gold  by  decreasing  the  value  of  property 
as  well  as  human  labor,  and  the  supply  of  currency 
is  purposel}'  abridged  to  fatten  usurers,  bankrupt 
enterprise  and  enslave  industry. 

^  yf^  y^  yf*  *  ^f* 

"  We  demand  a  national  currency,  safe,  sound  and 
flexible,  issued  by  the  General  Government  onl3^  a 
full  legal  tender  for  all  debts,  public  and  private, 
and  that  without  the  use  of  banking  corporations. 

Tp"  TP  'P'  TT"  'T»  "T^  '^ 

'1.  We  demand  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of 
silver  and  gold  at  the  present  legal  ratio  of  16  to  1. 

"We  demand  that  the  amount  of  circulating 
medium  be  speedily  increased  to  not  less  than  $50 
l^er  capita." 

These  resolutions  were  not  made  prominent  in 
the  People's  Party  papers,  nor  in  their  platform  dis- 
cussions. Criticisms  of  the  weaknesses  of  the  old 
parties,  and  the  government  ow^nership  of  railroads 
and  telegraphs  and  telephones,  and  other  matters  em- 
braced in  the  platform,  absorbed  attention. 

All  parties  seeiu  to  favor  silver,  yet  every  effort 
looking  toward  its  true  restoration  to  its  old  place 
as  a  measure  of  values  has  been  defeated,  whatever 
party  was  in  power. 


ADDENDA.  203 


ADDENDA. 

II. 
GERMANY. 

DECLARATION  OF  THE  BIMETALLISTS  OF  THE  GERMAN  SIL- 
VER COMMISSION,  1894. 

This  declaration  is  appended  as  showing  the 
present  drift  of  thought  upon  this  subject  in  Ger- 
many. The  calling  of  the  Commission  itself  showed 
a  dissatisfaction  with  the  single  gold  base.  This 
Commission  was  to  discuss  the  situation,  but  its  de- 
terminations were  in  no  sense  binding,  and  it,  in 
fact,  determined  nothing. 

The  eminent  scholars  who  have  put  forth  this 
declaration,  are  worthy  of  the  highest  consideration. 

President  Andrews,  of  Brown  University,  kindl}^ 
permits  us  to  use  his  excellent  translation: 

President's  Room, 
Brown  University. 

Providence,  R.  I.,  Sept.  8,  '9i. 
Mv  dear  Mr.  Elliott:     You   are   more   than    wel- 
come to  use  the  translation  ***** 
I  am  glad  you  are  coming  out  with  so  good  a  book. 

Yours, 

E.  Benj.  Andrews. 


The  undersigned,  members  of  the  Gerinan  Silver 
Commission,  believe  themselves  compelled  to  draw 
from  the  course  of  the  Commission's  proceedings 
the  following  conclusions  : 

INCREASED    PURCHASING    POWER    OF   GOLD. 

I.  We  consider  it  proved  by  science  and  experi- 
ence, and  partly,  in  fact,  by  the  admissions  of  promi- 


204  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

nent  adherents  of  the  sole-gold    standard,  that  the 
power  of  gold  to  purchase  goods  has  risen  since  the 
general  extension  of  the  gold  standard  (1873),  is  still 
rising  to-day,  and  must  continue  to  rise. 
Our  grounds  for  this  belief  are  : 

1.  The  rise  in  the  purchasing  power  of  gold,  that 
is,  the  general  fall  in  the  price  level  of  commodities, 
was  predicted  by  the  well-known  monetary  writers, 
Wolowski  and  Ernst  Seyd,  in  1868,  before  the  intro- 
duction of  the  gold  standard.  Their  prophecy  was  re- 
peated later  by  E.  de  Laveleye  and  Care3^  Even  Dr. 
Bamberger  said,  in  the  session  of  the  Reichstag  May 
29,  1873,  according  to  the  stenographic  report:  "On 
the  contrarj^,  gentlemen,  I  fully  agree  with  one  of  the 
speakers  who  have  preceded  me,  that  a  greater  de- 
mand for  gold  will  result  from  our  gold  policy  and 
the  similar  policies  adopted  by  other  countries.  Gold 
will  then  rise,  and  a  consequence  of  our  currency  re- 
form will  be  that  prices  with  us,  if  we  once  go  over 
to  the  gold  standard,  will  decline."  Robert  Giffen, 
recognized  as  one  of  the  best  authorities  of  the  gold- 
standard  party,  declared  in  1888:  "If  events  are  the 
touchstones  of  prophecies,  no  prophecy  was  ever  more 
certain  than  the  increased  dearness  of  gold.  That 
the  fall  of  prices  throughout  a  compass  so  general  as 
that  in  which  we  now  see  it  falling  is  to  be  referred 
to  an  elevation  in  the  purchasing  power  of  gold  is 
generally,  and  I  might  almost  sa}^  universally,  ad- 
mitted." 

2.  The  attempt  to  refer  this  lowering  in  the  gen- 
eral level  of  prices  to  other  causes,  lying  outside  the 
coinage  system,  for  instance,  to  cheapening  and  im- 
provement in  means  of  communication,  to  the  per- 
fecting of  processes  and  machines  for  the  production 


ADDENDA.  '  205 

of  goods,  etc.,  must  be  considered  a  failure,  for  the 
reason  that  the  same  causes  were  present  in  the  same 
strength  during  the  twent3"-3'ear  period  before  1873, 
though  at  that  time  there  was  observable  a  gradual 
elevation  in  the  prices  of  goods  in  general  ;  while, 
since  1873,  that  is,  since  the  beginning  of  the  fall  in 
the  gold  price  of  silver  through  the  introduction  of 
the  gold  standard  in  German}^,  a  sharp  and  perma- 
nent lowering  in  general  prices  has  come  in. 

Moreover,  the  industrial  development  referred 
to  is  at  present  specially  strong  in  the  lands  having 
the  silver  standard,  yet  without  inducing  any  fall  of 
prices  there.  This  is  a  direct  proof  that  silver  has 
not  lost  in  value,  but  merely  gone  down  in  its  gold 
price,  and  that,  therefore,  the  fact  which  confronts 
us  is  simply  an  elevation  in  the  value  of  gold. 

3.  The  objection. that  many  things,  as  city  rents, 
securities,  and,  most  of  all,  w^ages,  have  increased  in 
price  is  without  weight,  because  in  all  these  things 
powerful  special  factors  have  been  influencing  prices. 
City  rents  must  advance  so  long  as  the  population  of 
the  country  continues  to  be  drained  away  into  the 
larger  towns,  evoking  a  permanent  increase  in  the 
demand  for  houses.  Securities  advance  in  accord- 
ance with  the  increase  in  the  purchasing  power  of 
the  income  which  thej^  yield.  The  prostration  of 
protective  industry  lessens  the  demand  for  capital 
for  productive  purposes  and  increases  the  demand 
for  those  securities  whose  interest  is  certain  to  be 
paid.  Wages  rise  with  the  elevation  of  the  stand- 
ard of  life  in  the  different  classes  of  the  population, 
although  the  full  satisfaction  of  the  demand  thus 
originated  is  made  impossible  b}^  the  bad  industrial 
position  of   employers.      The  social    bitterness  pro- 


206  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

ceeding  from  this  unsatisfied  demand  is  mostly  a 
result  of  the  pressure  with  which  a  bad  coinage 
system  afflicts  the  entire  life  of  industrj^. 

RESULTING    EVILS. 

II,  The  advance  in  the  purchasing  power  of  gold, 
proved  in  our  judgment  beyond  refutation,  brought 
about  by  the  disuse  of  full  silver  money  and  the 
adoption  of  a  gold  standard,  has  demonstrably  pro- 
duced the  following  industrial  evils  : 

1.  An  incessantly  heavier  and  heavier  burden  is 
falling  on  the  debtor  in  favor  of  the  creditor.  In  re- 
spect to  this  Archbishop  Walsh,  of  Dublin,  remarks: 
"A  great  part  of  the  capital  employed  in  the  busi- 
ness of  our  land  has  passed  into  the  hands  of  creditors 
who  have  neither  toiled  nor  spun,  but  hold  securities 
and  mortgages.  The  discouragement  caused  by  this 
state  of  things  is  very  deep.  After  it  has  continued 
a  number  of  years  a  sense  of  hopelessness  masters 
the  entire  business  world  ;  all  desire  to  undertake 
business  enterprises  is  paralyzed  ;  a  multitude  of 
establishments  are  closed  ;  the  laborer  is  forced  out 
of  work  ;  and  laborers  as  well  as  the  whole  middle 
class  of  population  are  made  to  feel  that  a  great  mis- 
fortune has  come  over  them.  The  result,  in  fact, 
reaches  still  further  :  a  crowd  of  people  who  were 
once  well-to-do  in  business  have  now  become  re- 
cipients of  alms." 

2.  This  injury  to  the  debtor  must  at  last  involve 
the  creditor,  since  the  debtor  is  becoming  unable  to 

pay. 

3.  A  set-back  to  German  agriculture  is  manifest, 
referable,  on  the  one  hand,  to  the  necessitj^of  selling 
a  constantly  increasing  amount  of  depreciated  agri- 


ADDENDA.  207 

cultural  products  in  order  to  pay  wages,  interest, 
rent,  leases,  taxes  ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  to  the  in- 
creased power  of  competition  on  the  part  of  other 
countries,  silver  countries,  that  is,  and  countries  on 
a  money  basis  of  depreciated  paper.  In  proportion 
as  their  silver  or  paper  loses  in  power  to  buy  gold, 
these  countries  enjoying  in  effect  a  high  export 
premium,  are  able  to  throw  their  native  products 
upon  the  world's  markets  at  prices  far  beneath  what 
it  costs  German  farmers  to  produce  them,  so  plung- 
ing these  latter  in  deep  distress. 

4.  The  demonetization  of  silver  is  also  working 
a  more  and  more  visible  injur}-  to  German  manu- 
facturing industry  : 

(a.)  On  account  of  the  ever-lessening  abilitj'-  of 
the  farmer  class  to  purchase  manufactured  products. 

(b.)  On  account  of  the  decrease  in  exports  to 
silver  lands  and  of  the  consequent  recoil  upon  the 
home  market  of  the  articles  hitherto  exported 
thither. 

(c.)  On  account  of  the  competition  offered  by  the 
rapidly  developing  manufacturing  plants  of  silver 
lands,  favored  bj^  the  low  cost  of  production  there 
and  by  the  premium  upon  exportation  therefrom 
produced  by  the  fall  in  the  gold  price  of  silver. 

Unless  means  are  taken  to  prevent,  it  will  not  be 
long  before  the  manufactured  products  of  the  silver 
countries  will  find  the  German  market.  To  import 
Indian  j^arn  into  German}^  is  alread}'  a  pa^dng  opera- 
tion, 

5.  A  suppression  of  the  desire  to  engage  in  in- 
dustry is  the  natural  result  of  falling  prices.  Instead 
of  being  applied  to  undertakings  that  are  for  the 
people's  economic  advantage,  capital  seeks  invest- 


208  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

merit  in  securities  considered  certain  to  pay  interest. 
Lower  rates  of  interest  result.  In  order  not  to  suffer 
from  this,  uncertain  foreign  securities  are  purchased, 
occasioning  heavy  losses  of  German  capital,  espe- 
cially bad  for  small  investors. 

6.  Capital  cannot  permanently  keep  clear  of  the 
injuries  which  debtors  suffer,  nor  can  it  remain  un- 
affected by  the  falling  off  of  production.  Obliga- 
tions made  payable  in  gold  lead  to  the  bankruptcy 
of  individuals,  as  well  as  of  States  (Greece,  Portugal, 
Argentina). 

7.  Constantly  increasing  difficulty  besets  coun- 
tries which  are  financially  involved  by  having  gold 
debts  to  pay.  Instead  of  being  able  to  reduce  their 
finances  to  order,  they  are  confronted  w^ith  an  in- 
creasing agio  upon  gold,  and  also,  corresponding  to 
this,  with  an  increase  of  the  premium  upon  the  pro- 
ducts which  they  export.  This  exportation,  moreover, 
is  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  manufactures  and  the 
agriculture  of  the  lands  having  the  gold  standard. 

8.  There  results  a  permanent  injury  and  exhaus- 
tion of  Germany's  silver  mining  industry,  which 
cannot  be  normally  carried  on  at  the  present  prices 
of  silver.  But  as  silver  mining  ceases  there  also 
ceases  in  great  part  the  production  of  copper,  lead, 
zinc,  etc.  In  this  way  many  millions  are  yearly  lost 
to  the  income  of  the  German  nation  ;  many  thou- 
sands of  laborers  are  deprived  of  bread  ;  entire  dis- 
tricts of  Germany  are  ruined. 

9.  A  falling  off  amounting  to  billions  is  taking 
place  in  the  value  of  the  nation's  land  and  soil, 
threatening  particularly  the  agricultural  districts  of 
the  eastern  provinces  ;  while  the  growth  taking  place 
in  the  great  cities  and  manufacturing  centres  is  go- 


,         ADDENDA.  209 

iiig  on  in  an  unhealthy  way.  Increasing  discontent 
is  overpowering  the  population,  showing  itself  in  the 
progress  of  Socialistic  Democrac}^  and  also  in  the 
anti-Semitic  movement,  which  K.  de  Laveleye  fore- 
told as  a  result  of  introducing  the  gold  standard. 

10.  The  depopulation  of  the  rural  sections  means 
a  weakening  of  the  German  militarj''  power.  In  case 
of  war,  our  financial  preparations  are  entirely  unsat- 
isfactory. That  other  countries  are  quite  as  badly 
off  as  we  in  this  respect  affords  no  satisfaction. 

11.  The  fall  in  the  gold  price  of  silver  severely 
endangers  our  monetary  circulation.  We  have  in 
circulation  nearly  a  billion  marks  (face  value)  in 
thalers,  small  silver  pieces,  nickel  and  copper  money, 
whose  bullion  value  in  all  hardly  exceeds  400  million 
marks.  This  condition  gives  rise  to  a  double  danger 
— viz. :  That  our  monetary  system  may  break  down 
at  critical  times,  and  that  counterfeit  full  legal-ten- 
der silver  coins  maybe  circulated,  indistinguishable 
from  those  struck  at  the  public  mints,  a  process,  at 
the  present  low  gold  price  of  silver,  affording  coun- 
terfeiters enormous  profits.  It  is  known  that  vast 
counterfeit  issues  are  already  in  circulation  in  other 
countries. 

12.  All  these  evils  lead  every  now  and  then  to 
crises,  \\dnch  disturb  business  by  raising  rates  of  dis- 
count, resorted  to  in  order  to  protect  gold,  which  all 
banks  anxiously  do,  for  the  most  part  withdrawing 
it  from  commerce  by  an  embargo. , 

13.  Bej^ond  all  question  we  have  to  anticipate  a 
still  more  acute  development  of  these  evils.  All  the 
silver  countries  must  try  to  place  themselves  on  the 
gold  basis  if  Germany  and  the  rest  of  the  great 
powers  hold  fast  thereto.     Modern  commerce  cannot 


210  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

permanently  endure  a  dfference  in  basal  moneys, 
the  separation  of  the  world  into  gold  countries  and 
silver  countries.  But  any  further  extension  of  the 
gold  system  must,  as  Goschen  predicted  so  early  as 
1878,  lead  to  a  business  crisis  such  as  the  world  has 
never  3^et  passed  through. 

ADVANTAGES    FROM    REMONETIZATIOX    OF    SILVER. 

III.  Nothing  but  a  restitution  of  silver  to  its  for- 
mer co-equality  with  gold  as  a  monetary  metal  can 
bring  the  needed  relief. 

We  promise  ourselves  the  following  benign  re- 
sults in  case  of  such  a  restitution  : 

1.  The  persistent  fall  of  general  prices  would 
cease,  the  prices  of  all  products  would  again  be  de- 
iermined  in  a  normal  way,  and  agriculture  and  other 
industries  would  flourish  anew. 

People's  fears  touching  mone}"  depreciation,  infla- 
tion, and  injur}'  to  creditors,  supposing  silver  to  be 
restored,  rest  upon  exaggerations.  International 
free  coinage  would  at  most  leave  barel}^  enough  ex- 
cess of  gold  and  silver  over  the  industrial  denaand 
to  keep  pace  with  the  increase  of  business  and  pop- 
ulation and  with  the  constant  addition  of  ne^\'  coun- 
tries to  the  civilized  portion  of  the  world.  The 
precious  metal  production  with  which  we  no'w  have 
to  reckon  is,  in  fact,  proportionall}' to  the  various  de- 
mands which  would  be  inade  upon  it,  ver^^  much 
less  than  that  of  the  fifties  and  the  sixties,  which 
then  brought  rich  economic  blessing  and  did  no 
injury  whatever, 

2.  When  prices  rise,  both  the  impulse  to  under- 
take industrial  enterprises  and  the  rate  of  interest 
also   rise,  working   an    advantage    to  capital  which 


ADDENDA.  211 

fully  makes  good  any  possible  diminution  in  the  pur- 
chasing power  of  money.  Public  income  swells, 
permitting  an  advance  in  the  salaries  of  officials.  A 
flourishing  condition  of  general  industry  enhances 
the  demand  for  labor  and  betters  the  situation  of  the 
laboring  classes, 

3.  Were  it  possible  to  make  specie  payments  in 
silver  as  well  as  in  gold,  it  would  be  easier  for  coun- 
tries with  depreciated  paper  money  to  regulate  their 
finances.  Many  can  never  accomplish  this  in  any 
other  wa3\  Variations  in  paper-money  values  would 
then  no  longer  curse  commerce ;  the  products  of 
German  industry  w^ould  be  in  vast  amounts  exported 
to  silver  lands  (East  Asia,  Mexico,  South  America), 
and  at  the  same  time  the  ability  of  our  agricultural 
population  to  buy  goods  would  be  restored. 

4.  A  period  of  general  advance  in  material  pros- 
perity would  rob  of  all  significance  the  Agrarian, 
anti-Semitic  and  Socialist-Democrat  movements  of 
agitators,  and  prevent  the  mutual  bitterness  of  our 
political  factions  from  becoming,  as  it  now  threatens 
to  become,  more  acute. 

5.  Instead  of  the  separate  measures  of  vakie  now 
actually  in  use  by  the  world's  commerce,  gold  alone 
in  some  countries  and  silver  alone  in  others,  there 
would  be  a  single  measure  of  value  for  all  mankitid, 
that  secured  through  gold  and  silver  together  b}'- 
rendering  invariable  their  values  relativel}^  to  one 
another.  That  this  fixity  in  the  relative  values  of 
gold  and  silver  can  be  brought  about  is  proved  1)3^ 
histor3^  for  it  actuall}^  prevailed  from  1803  to  1873 
owing  to  the  mintage  of  both  metals  by  France. 
That  it  is  possible  bj^  a  vinion  between  the  chief  com- 
mercial governments  to  establish  a  practically'  un- 


212  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

changing  relation  in  value  between  silver  and  gold, 
was  unanimously  recognized,  after  long  investiga- 
tion, by  the  English  Gold  and  Silver  Commission  of 

1888. 

OBJECTIONS    CONSIDERED. 

The  objections  against  the  above  opinions  of  ours 
seem  to  us  to  lack  sufficient  foundation. 

1.  If  it  be  said  that  the  restitution  of  silver  as  a 
monetary  metal  is  possible,  or  possible  in  accordance 
with  justice  to  creditors,  only  by  rating  silver  to  gold 
at  its  present  market  value  in  gold,  we  reply  that  the 
market  price  of  silver  to-day  is  abnormal,  resulting 
from  a  series  of  panics  evoked  by  legislation,  and 
from  a  limitation  in  the  demand  for  silver  having  no 
other  cause  than  the  artificial  one  of  closing  mints  to 
this  metal.  Besides,  it  cannot  be  admitted  that  the 
creditor  has  any  natural  right  permanently  to  receive 
at  the  debtor's  cost,  in  consequence  of  the  steady  rise 
in  the  purchase  power  of  gold,  a  value  continually 
more  and  more  in  excess  of  what  would  fall  to  him 
were  there  no  such  appreciation  of  gold. 

2.  In  reply  to  the  objection,  resting  on  misunder- 
stood theories,  that  the  relation  in  value  between  two 
"wares,"  gold  and  silver,  cannot  be  "fixed"  by  statute, 
we  appeal  to  actual  experiences  with  bimetallic 
mintage  in  France,  where,  between  1803  and  1873,  it 
maintained  for  the  whole  world  the  relation  of  151/2 
to  1,  thus  persistently  continuing  the  relative  i-alue 
of  gold  and  silver,  with  slight  variations  correspond- 
ing to  the  usual  movements  of  exchange,  in  spite  of 
the  greatest  fluctuations  in  their  relative  production 
that  has  ever  been  known. 

We  appeal  further  to  the  unanimous  judgment  at 
which  the  English  Gold  and  Silver  Commission  of 


ADDENDA.  1^13 

1888  arrived,  although  half  its  members  were  opposed 
to  bimetallism.     Here  is  what  the  Commission  says: 

"We  think  that  in  any  conditions  fairly  to  be  con- 
templated in  the  future,  so  far  as  we  can  forecast 
them  from  the  experience  of  the  past,  a  stable  ratio 
might  be  maintained  if  the  nations  we  have  alluded 
to  (Great  Britain,  the  United  States,  Germany  and 
the  Latin  Union)  were  to  accept  and  strictly  adhere 
to  bimetallism  at  the  suggested  ratio.  We  think  that 
if  in  all  these  countries  gold  and  silver  could  be  freely 
coined  and  thus  become  exchangeable  against  com- 
modities at  the  fixed  ratio,  the  market  value  of  silver 
as  measured  by  gold  would  conform  to  that  ratio  and 
not  vary  to  any  material  extent. 

"We  need  not  enter  upon  an}^  extended  explana- 
tion of  our  reasons  for  this  view,  since  such  reasons 
can  be  derived  from  what  we  have  set  forth  above, 
and  since,  in  our  opinion,  they  obviously  follow  both 
from  theoretical  considerations  and  from  the  expe- 
rience of  the  last  half  century. 

"It  in  fact  appears  impossible  to  maintain  any 
other  view." 

3.  If  it  is  objected  that  the  restitution  of  silver 
would  occasion  for  Germany  a  crisis  whose  limits 
could  not  be  foreseen,  it  must  be  noticed  in  the  first 
place  that  we  do  not  strive  for  any  interposition  on 
behalf  of  silver  save  on  the  basis  of  an  internation- 
al agreement.  No  sort  of  distrust  can  be  occasioned 
by  bimetallism  when  it  is  introduced  simultaneously 
in  all  the  great  nations. 

Besides,  the  fear  of  a  "flood"  of  silver  is  entirely 
groundless. 

(a.)  Because  not  an  increase  but  a  decrease  is  sil- 
ver production  is  now  in  prospect; 


214  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

(b.)  Becausethesilverinthe  silver  countries  (East 
Asia,  Mexico)  and  in  circulation  as  money  in  the  gold 
lands  has  not  yet  become  depreciated.  The  billions 
which  circulate  as  thalers,  marks,  francs,  shillings 
and  guilders  still  hold  fast  their  old  value; 

(c.)  Because  compared  with  the  tremendous 
stocks  of  precious  metal  in  the  world,  which,  includ- 
ing wrought  gold  and  silver,  are  valued  at  100,000,- 
000,000  francs  ($20,000,000,000),  the  ^^early  production 
is  insignificantly  small; 

(d.)  Because  the  severe  and  long-continued  crisis 
has  naturally  reduced  the  demands  of  business  on 
the  stock  of  gold  and  silver  coins,  and  in  a  period  of 
flourishuig  industry  this  demand  will  greatly  rise. 

But  the  speedy  establishment  of  international 
bimetallism  seems  to  us  necessary  more  particularly 
in  view  of  the  fact  concerning  the  production  of  the 
precious  metals. 

The  testimony'  of  expert  geologists  has  strength- 
ened us  in  our  conviction  that  gold  is  not  adapted  to 
be  alone  the  measure  of  value,  and  that  the  fears  of  a 
too  great  production  of  silver  are  utterly  unjustified. 

Experts  have  unanimously  declared: 

(a.)  That  the  large  production  of  silver  in  Aus- 
tralia is  a  transitory  phenomenon,  whose  end  is  but 
a  little  way  in  the  future; 

ib.)  That  silver  production  is  at  present  rapidly 
falling  off  in  the  United  States,  not  only  in  conse- 
quence of  the  fall  in  gold  price,  but  as  well  because 
the  bonanzas  and  also  the  carbonate  ores  necessary 
for  smelting  are  becoming  exhausted; 

(c.)  That  permanently  large  production  of  silver 
is  to  be  expected  only  in  Mexico  and  South  America, 
where,  because  these  countries  are  on  the  silver  basis 


ADDENDA.  215 

the  gold  price  of  silver  has,  in  our  belief,  no  effect  in 
checking  the  production  of  the  metal. 

As  against  the  view  prevalent  in  our  country 
that  the  gold  price  of  silver  fell  because  of  increase 
in  production,  it  is  certain  that  this  fall  is  to  be  re- 
ferred entirely  to  the  doings  of  legislators  ;  that  when 
the  fall  began  the  production  of  silver  was,  in  fact, 
not  sufficient  to  meet  the  demand  ;  and  that  the 
American  silver  laws  led  to  a  "skinning"  of  the  sil- 
ver mines,  which  was  the  main  cause  of  the  increase 
in  production.  Let  normal  conditions  return  and  we 
ma}'  expect  a  stable  production  of  silver,  correspond- 
ing to  the  vast  demand,  though  hardl^^  sufficient  to 
satisf}'  it. 

The  production  of  gold  has  greatly  increased  in 
the  last  few  years,  yet  not  in  a  way  to  equal  the  de- 
mand so  long  as  gold  alone  is  full  money.  Should  the 
gold  states  at  last  be  driven  to  go  on  and  lay  aside 
their  many  billions  of  silver  money,  continually^  los- 
ing more  and  more  of  its  gold  value,  it  would  be  abso- 
lutely impossible  to  fill  the  gap  so  caused  in  their 
circulation. 

But  the  production  of  gold  cannot  maintain  itself 
at  its  present  height.  The  more  strongU^  and  in- 
tensively the  extraction  of  gold  is  pushed,  so  much 
more  rapidly  and  completely  will  the  mines  be  ex- 
hausted. The  allegations  of  Professor  Kd.  Suess  in 
reference  to  the  prospective  exhaustion  of  gold  mines 
have  not  been  proved  incorrect,  but  have  been  con- 
firmed ;  and  Suess,  when  before  the  Commission, 
only  strengthened  us  in  his  views  w^hen  he  declared 
that  the  present  copious  production  of  gold  is  bring- 
ing the  world  essentially  nearer  to  the  moment  as- 


216  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

sumed  by  hiin  when  the  production  of  gold  will  be 
entirely  at  an  end. 

In  the  Transvaal,  according  to  microscopic  investi- 
gations, it  is  only  a  question  of  fossil  "soaps"  (allu- 
vial or  diluvial  gold).  The  wealth  of  gold  there, 
therefore,  does  not  refute  but  confirms  Suess's  doc- 
trine that  important  treasures  in  gold  are  to  be  found 
only  in  newly  opened  countries,  where  they  quickly 
give  out. 

People  still  refer  to  the  possibility  of  further 
"surprises"  in  respect  to  gold  production.  This 
possibility  is  all  the  time  growing  less  and  less  with 
man's  restlessl}"  advancing  examination  of  the 
earth's  surface. 

The  gold  production  of  to-da}^  inadequate  as  it  is, 
is  rapidly  using  up  the  world's  last  great  gold  re- 
serves. To  build  the  world's  coinage  system  upon  a 
production  which  can  at  best  last  only  some  decades 
is  as  impossible  as  a  coinage  system  based  upon 
the  chance  of  "surprises." 

A  provident  statesmanship  cannot  discredit  silver 
and  let  it  lose  its  value,  when  all  human  foresight 
is  to  the  effect  that  the  metal  will  be  absolutely  in- 
dispensable in  the  future. 

The  present  moment,  witnessing  an  increase  in 
gold  production  which  may  be  the  last,  is  precisely 
the  time  to  carry  through  an  international  sj'stem 
of  bimetallism,  as  this  can  now  be  done  without  any 
fear  that  gold  will  leave  the  circulation  or  attain  an 
agio.  Those  who  prophesy  a  gold  agio  in  case  of  bi- 
metallism overlook  the  fact  that  they  thereby  ascribe 
to  gold  a  scarcity  and  dearness  too  great  to  allow  of 
gold  possiblj^  continuing  the  sole  standard. 

If,  now,  the   united  German   governments  recog- 


ADDENDA.  217 

nize  the  necessity  of  procedure  to  stop  the  deprecia- 
tion of  silver,  it  comports  with  the  high  position  of 
Germany  as  a  nation  that  it  should  assume  the 
initiative  toward  international  negotiations,  exerting 
its  influence  in  the  council  of  the  nations  in  favor 
of  silver,  whose  depreciation  had  its  beginning  iti 
the  German  coinage  law  of  1871.  Such  is  the  condi- 
tion of  affairs  that  Germany  will  be  permitted  to 
reckon  upon  the  co-operation  of  all  powerful  States, 
including  England. 

Dr.  Arendt, 

Von  Kardorff-Wabxitz, 

Leuschner, 

Vox    SCHALSCHA, 
WULFIXG. 


218  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 


ADDENDA. 

III. 

UNITED  KINGDOM. 

This  speech  is  given  in  full  to  show  that  many 
strong  thinkers  in  the  United  Kingdom  earnestly 
desire  to  restore  silver. 

THE  SPEECH  OF  MR.  CHAPLIN. 

The  followino-  speech  was  delivered  by  Rt.  Hon.  Henry 
Chaplin,  member  of  parliament,  former  president  of  the  board 
of  agriculture  and  ex-minister  of  agriculture,  at  the  yueen 
Street  Hall.  Edinburgh,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Scotch 
Chamber  of  Agriculture.  The  subject  of  the  address  was, 
"Bimetallism  in  Relation  to  Agricultural  Depression."  He 
was  introduced  by  Mr.  J.  T.  S.  Patterson,  president  of  the 
Chamber,  who  spoke  of  the  distinguished  speaker  as  "the 
leading  authorit}'  on  the  subject." 

After  making  his  acknowledgments  and  expressing  his 
appreciation  of  the  invitation,  Mr.  Chaplin  said  : 

••I  had  great  diffidence  in  deciding  to  accept  your  invi- 
tation, and  "for  this  reason  :  The  subject  itself  is  one  of  great 
complexity;  it  is  no  easy  task  to  explain  it  clearl}-  to  those 
who  are  uninitiated,  and  there  is  no  question  in  the  world 
which  gives  rise  to  svxch  bitter  animosity- and  to  such  burn- 
ing controversies  between  the  two  opposing  parties.  The 
battle  of  the  standards,  as  it  has  been  called,  has  been  wag- 
ing now  for  many  jears,  and  although  bimetallists  are  no 
longer  subject  to  the  same  abuse  as  formerh',  I  am  happj-  to 
think  that  that  phase  of  ignorance  and  folly  has  passed  awaj', 
and  although  bimetallists,  in  the  face  of  overwhelming  diffi- 
culties, have  been  steadily  making  way,  it  certainly  has  not 
lessened  the  animosity  of  their  opponents.  In  fact,  I  often 
think  that  it  is  very  fortunate  for  us  that  we  do  not  happen 
to  be  living  still  in  the  days  of  the  dark  ages  [laughter]  for  I 
am  quite  confident  if  we  were  that  the  conveners  of  this  meet- 
ing, probably  jour  chairman,  and  most  certainlj' the  member 
for  Sleaford,  would  have  been  burned  at  the  stake,  if  that 
were  possible,  by  our  monometallic  opponents  before  I 
could  escape  from  Edinburgh  to-morrow  [laughter]  for  the 
economic  heresies  I  am  going  to  propound  to  j'ou  to-night. 
But  be  that  as  it  may,  it  happens  that  I  have  had  some  op- 


ADDENDA.  219 

portunities,  as  a  memberof  the  Gold  and  Silver  Cointnission 
and  otherwise,  of  acquirino-  information  on  this  cjuestion.  I 
can  sa)^  with  perfect  truth  that  I  have  g-iven  much  attention 
to  it,  and  I  have  come  to  the  deliberate  conclusion  that  it  is 
a  matter  of  surpassing  interest  to  the  great  industry  which 
}-ou  represent  [applause]  and  I  own  that  I  am  heartilj'  glad 
of  the  opportunity  of  pressing  upon  you  to-night  the  views 
I  hold  mjself  upon  this  qtiestion,  and  of  the  truth  of  which 
I  am  entirel}'  convinced. 

"Let  me  add  this,  also,  gentlemen,  that  while  it  will  be 
my  object  to  speak,  I  hope,  in  no  dogmatic  spirit,  and  with 
all  the  diffidence  which  is  becoming  in  discussing  an  abstruse 
and  highly  complicated  question,  I  do  most  earnestly  desire 
to  pass  upon  you  with  complete  conviction,  and  as  stronglj' 
and  as  clearlj^  as  I  can  the  reasons  whicli  have  guided  me  in 
forming  the  conclusions  which  I  have  done  on  this  vast  and 
enormous  question.  For  if  I  can  convince  you  that  the 
l)imetal]ic  party  are  right  in  their  contentions,  wh}-,  then, 
the  nuignitude  and  the  importance  of  this  question  cannot  be 
exaggerated,  for  it  touches,  and  it  must  and  will  affect  every 
industr3^  and  every  other  question  you  can  think  of.  [Hear, 
hear !] 

THE   CAUSE  OF  THE  DEPRESSION. 

"And  now,  gentlemen,  without  further  preface,  I  will 
turn  to  the  consideration  of  the  subject  on  which  you  have 
invited  me  to  address  30U.  It  is  entitled  'Bimetallism  in 
Relation  to  Agricultural  Depression.'  That  is  to  be  the 
theme  of  our  discussion  to-night,  and,  I  hope,  of  many  sub- 
sequent discussions  in  your  association.  I  think  that  J  sliall 
best  be  able  to  explain  mj-  general  views  upon  the  subject 
by  submitting  to  jou  the  following  propositions.  They  are 
three  in  number,  and  nij^  contention  is  as  follows:  1.  That 
the  cause  of  agricultural  depression  is  chiefl}'  to  be  found  in 
the  heavj-  fall  which  has  occurred  in  recent  3'ears,  and  which- 
is  still  progressing,  in  the  prices  of  agricultural  produce  of 
almost  every  description,  atid  so  long  as  this  decline  in 
prices  is  continued,  real  and  permanent  return  of  agri- 
cultural prosperity  is  practicall}^  hopeless  for  the  future.  2. 
That  this  continued  drop  in  prices  has  been  consequent 
upon,  and  is  mainh'  due  to,  the  great  monetarj'  changes  on 
the  continent,  which  resulted  in  the  abandonment  of  the 
bimetallic  system,  under  which,  and  under  the  full  effects  of 
which,  the  entire  business  of  this  country  and  the  world  was 
carried  on  prior  to  1873.  And  lastly,  that  in  order  to  arrest 
this  continuous  and  progressive  fall,  it  is  desirable  to  revert 
to  the  S5'Stem  which  prevailed  up  till  1873,  and  under  which 
the  siniimit  of  agricultural  and  industrial  prosperity  was 
reached  and  successfully  maintained  throughout  the  whole 
of  the  United  Kingdom.  [Applaxxse.]  Now,  gentlemen,  that 
is  a  summar}^  of  the  views  which  I  intend  to  submit  to  j'ou. 


220  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

and  it  is  on  my  abilit}-  to  make  orood  the  several  propositions 
which  they  embrace  that  I  shall  rest  mj-  claim  to  j'our  sup- 
port for  the  opinions  which  I  hold. 

EXISTENCE  OF  AGRICULTURAL  DEPRESSION. 
"Now  as  to  the  existence  of  agricultural  depression,  I 
apprehend  that  there  is  no  difference  of  opinion.  It  is  a 
painful  and  undoubted  fact,  which  too  many  of  5"Ou,  I  fear, 
have  realized  b}' practical  experience  already,  and  which  so 
far  as  I  know,  is  not  disputed  or  denied  bj'  any  one.  There 
are  other  subjects,  1  am  well  aware,  that  very  properl}' 
engage  the  attention  of  agriculturists  at  the  present  time, 
in  addition  to  the  question  oi  prices.  For  instance,  there  is 
the  question  of  land  tenure  for  one  ;  there  is  the  question 
of  the  amendment  of  the  agricultural  holdings  act  for 
another  [hear,  hear  I|  and  then  there  is  another  ver}"  impor- 
tant subject,  viz.:  the  undue  burden  of  the  rates  and  taxa- 
tion upon  land  [applause],  and  so  on  Avith  manj'^  others. 
Many  of  them  are  very  important  and  deserving  of  careful 
consideration  ;  and  with  regard  to  one  and  all  of  them  I 
hope  that  30U  will  always  find  me  foremost  among  those 
who  are  read)-  to  lend  a  willing  ear  to  an}'  well-considered 
propositions  for  their  amendments  or  altertition.  [Ap- 
plause.] But  I  do  not  think  that  anj-  one  has  ever  cited 
any  of  them  as  direct  causes  of  agricultural  depression,  and 
probabl}'  for  this  reason,  that  thej-  know  from  past  experience 
that  thej'  have  been  co-existent  with  periods  of  the  greatest 
agricultural  prosperit}*.  1  submit  then,  gentlemen,  to  begin 
with,  that  I  am  right  in  tracing  agricultural  depression  in 
the  main  to  the  general  fall  in  prices  of  j-our  produce,  and 
that  is  an  opinion  which  at  all  events  is  verj-  widelj-  shared. 
It  was  the  purport  and  effect  of  the  main  and  principal  reso- 
lution which  was  unanimously'  adopted  by  the  great  confer- 
ence which  was  held  at  St.  James's  Hall  on  the  7th  and  8th 
of  December,  1892,  and  in  iny  recollection  there  has  certainly 
never  been  a  gathering  of  agriculturists  of  like  itnportance. 
For  that  conference,  of  some  1,5(X)  or  2,(X)0  people,  was  com- 
posed of  delegates  from  no  less  than  250  agricultural  asso- 
ciations assembled  together  from  all  parts  of  the  Kingdom. 
And  I  may  tell  j'ou  this  besides,  that  it  is  also  the  unan- 
imous testimonj-  of  every  witness  who  up  till  now  has  come 
before  the  royal  agricultural  commission — and  >Ir.  Gilmour 
and  Mr.  Claj'  will  bear  me  out  in  this — which  is  inquiring 
at  this  moment  into  the  whole  question  of  agricultural 
depression  ;  and,  indeed,  it  is  reall}'  unnecessar}^  to  argue 
the  point,  for  I  do  not  think  that  there  is  anj'  one  who  seri- 
ously disputes  it.  I  assume  then,  gentlemen,  that  up  to 
this  point  I  shall  carry  the  assent  of  this  meeting  with  me. 
But  there  is  another  feature  in  this  fall  of  prices  to  which  I 
must  call  marked  attention,  and  which  is  perhaps  of  chief 
importance— namel}',  that  this  fall  has  been  hitherto  progres- 


ADDENDA.  221 

sive,  and  no  one  knows  or  can  foresee  where  and  when  it  is  to 
end.  If  they  could,  if  an}^  one  of  3^ou  could  be  assured  that 
you  had  touched  bottom,  and  that,  low  as  the}'  are  now, 
prices  would  remain  stable  and  steadj'  in  the  future,  then  it 
might  be  possible  on  land  of  reasonable  qualitj^  to  conduct 
your  industry  on  a  business-like  and  stable  footing.  Fresh 
arrangeinents  could  be  made,  a  general  adjustment  would 
take  place  in  rent,  in  wages,  in  expenses,  and  iii  all  out- 
goings, and  the  business  would  go  on  as  before.  It  would 
be  a  terrible  state  of  things,  and  it  would  entail  enormous 
suffering.  The  present  generation  of  farmers  and  cultiva- 
tors would  most  of  them  be  ruined  and  pass  awaj^ ; 
but  still,  if  once  j'ou  could  be  certain  that  prices 
had  touched  bottom,  why,  then,  after  a  general  readjust- 
ment such  as  I  describe,  on  a  certain  qualitj'  of  land, 
the  industry  could  go  on  and  be  prosecuted  in  the  future, 
alwa3^s  upon  the  condition  that  prices  had  reached  their 
lowest  level,  and  could  be  counted  upon  to  remain  steady  in 
the  future.  Bat  that,  unhappily,  is  not  the  case.  The  fall 
of  prices  has  been  continuous  now  for  many  years,  and  is 
still  progressing.  And  in  order  to  see  this  you  have  onl}'  to 
look  at  the  evidence  of  what  is  known  as  the  S3^stem  of 
index  numbers.  Perhaps  I  ought  to  explain  to  j'ou  what 
that  sj^stem  is.  It  is  a  S3'stem  b}'  which  30U  ascertain  what 
has  been  the  average  rise  or  fall  in  the  prices  of  a  certain 
nuinber  of  different  articles  over  a  given  number  of  3'ears. 
The  method  3  ou  adopt  is  this  :  You  take  a  certain  number 
of  articles,  fift3'  or  one  hundred,  more  or  less,  as  man3'  as 
3'ou  like,  and  the  price  of  each  of  thein  at  a  given  date  is 
represented  b3'  a  standard  number,  say  100.  Any  variations 
in  the  prices  of  these  separate  articles  which  occur  in  each 
year  afterwards,  are -made  a  note  of.  Thereupon  3^ou  add  to 
or  subtract  from  the  standard  number  in  each  case,  accord- 
ing as  there  has  been  a  rise  or  fall,  and  b3^  adding  together 
the  nunjbers  so  obtained  you  get  a  general  average  of 
w^hat  the  rise  or  fall  upon  the  whole  of  these  articles  haS 
been.  Man3^  different  tables  of  prices  have  been  compiled 
in  recent  years  upon  this  system  b}'  a  number  of  eminent 
men.  The  best  known  of  them  are  the  tables  of  the  Econo- 
mist newspaper  of  Dr.  Soetbeer,  of  Mr.  Gitfen,  of  Sauerbeck, 
Mr.  Palgrave  and  others,  and  the3'  all  show  ver}-  much  the 
same  result — namel3%  that  the  prices  of  coinmodities  gen- 
erally have  been  steadily  falling  now  for  many  years.  The 
latest  table  I  have  seen— that  of  Mr.  Sauerbeck — shows  that 
from  1873  to  1893  the  fall  has  been  rather  over  -10  per  cent, 
and  it  still  continues  in  1894.  Now  take  the  case  of  one  arti- 
cle alone,  of  wheat,  for  instance.  Wheat,  in  spite  of  every- 
thing, is  still  an  important  crop  in  some  of  our  Scottish  and 
English  countries.  There  are  some  parts  of  Great  Britain 
where  the  land  is  capable  of  growing-  first-rate  crops  of 
wheat,   but    where   it   is  fit   for  ver3^  little  else.     Now  what 


222  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

has  been  the  course  of  the  prices  of  wheat  for  several 
years  past?  You  will  probablj^  remember  that  when  Mr. 
Clare  Read  and  Mr.  Albert  Peil  went  out  as  sub-commission- 
ers to  America  for  the  Richmond  commission  in  1879,  the}^ 
left  America  under  the  impression  that  wheat  would  not  be 
sent  to  England  from  America  in  the  future  under  40s  a 
quarter.  It  beg^an  to  fall,  however,  shortly  afterwards  below 
that  price,  and  it  went  on  falling-  till  it  reached  30s  some 
two  or  three  j^ears  ago  ;  and  I  remember  quite  well  pointing 
out  to  the  great  conference  at  St.  James's  Hall  sixteen  months 
ago  that  it  had  then  come  down  to  25s,  and  I  saw  no 
reason  why  it  should  not  fall  to  20s.  Well,  now,  what  is  the 
latest  intelligence  we  have  on  that  point? 

"  On  December  12th  of  last  year  I  got  information  from  a 
friend,  a  reliable  correspondent  at  Bristol,  who  is  kind 
enough  to  keep  ine  well  informed  upon  these  matters.  He 
wrote  as  follows:  'Several  of  our  leading  corn  iinporters 
have  purchased  cargoes  of  sound,  dr}-  Russian  %vheat  for 
deliver}'  in  Februar}-,  March  and  April  next  at  22s  6d  and 
23s  per  quarter  of  492  pounds,  and  to-daj"  sundrj-  cargoes 
and  parcels  of  similar  wheat  are  in  offer  and  obtainable  at 
22s  3d.  The  impression  here  is  that  bottom  has  at  last  been 
touched/  but  he  added  a  word  of  caution— '  the  same  impres- 
sion existed  when  wheat  w^as  at  30s  a  quarter.'  [Laughter.] 
But  I  have  a  later  communication  than  that  from  the  same 
authority,  as  late  as  May  9th,  and  again  he  writes:  'M3' 
friends  on  the  corn  exchange  tell  me  to-day  that  the  record 
has  again  been  beaten.  River  Plate  wheats,  f.  a.  q.  (meaning- 
fair  average  quality),  are  offered  at  20s  per  quarter.'  And 
coming  later  still,  to  the  22d  of  this  month,  I  received  this 
memorandum  last  week  from  the  cit}^  of  London  :  '  Messrs. 
Ralli  Brothers  sold  recently  red  Kurrachee  wheat.  May  and 
June  shipments,  to  Hull  at  19s  3d  per  492  pounds.  This 
was  superior,  and  would  make  fair  average  qualitj'  worth 
onlj^  18s  6d.  Similar  qualit}'  three  jears  ago  would  be  38s 
and  39s  a  quarter ;  19s  3d  is  the  lowest  price  Messrs.  Ralli 
Brothers  have  ever  sold  wheat  at.'  I  will  explain  to  30U 
directl}'  how  it  is  possible  it  can  paj^  anj-  one  to  send  it  at 
that  price,  and  that  is  an  extremely  interesting  subject,  on 
which  I  shall  have  a  deal  more  to  sa}-.  But  for  the  moment 
what  I  am  concerned  to  show  is  that  the  fall  has  been 
progressive  up  till  now,  and  that  it  still  continues,  and  I 
believe  3'ou  will  agree  that  by  what  I  have  told  you  up  till 
now  I  have  made  that  statement  good.  But  if  50U  do  agree 
with  me,  and  if  I  am  right  in  this,  what  does  it  mean  to  3'ou  ? 

"Now,  I  must  press  this  consideration  very  earnestlj'  on 
3'our  attention,  and  I  want  to  ask  this  question  :  When  j^ou 
are  about  to  nuike  a  contract  for  a  farm,  and  before  you  sign 
the  lease,  what  is  the  first  thing  that  5011  do?  You  make  a 
calculation  in  order  to  satisf}^  yourself  how  much  rent  you 
can  afford  to   paj'  after   making  a    fair  profit  for  jourself. 


ADDENDA.  223 

This  profit,  of  course,  depends  upon  the  returns  which  joti 
expect  from  the  produce  which  3'ou  sell,  and  the  value  of 
that  produce  depends  aoaiu  verj^  laro-el3^  upon  the  price 
which  it  commands.  Well,  j^ou  make  your  calculations  on  a 
fair — 1  will  even  say  a  liberal — estimation  after  allowino- 
for  contingencies  of  the  prices  of  the  daj',  and  thereupon,  if 
your  calculation  pleases  you,  3'ou  make  your  contract  and 
3'ou  sign  the  lease.  What  is  the  next  step?  You  enter  on 
the  farm,  3^0x1  spend  3'our  mone3',  3'OU  g-row  3^our  crops,  and, 
finall3%  3'OU  sell  them.  But,  after  30U  have  done  so,  and  3'ou 
come  to  make  up  3'Our  accounts  upon  the  next  occasion,  3'ou 
find  that  3^our  returns  are  much  less  than  3'ou  thought  the3' 
would  be  when  3^ou  took  the  farm.  And  wh3^  ?  What  is  the 
I'eason  for  this  great  miscalculation  ?  Wh3',  simpl3'  this:  that 
there  has  been  a  further  heav3-  fall  in  prices  which  neither 
3'ou  nor  an3^  one  could  possibl3-  have  foreseen.  Your  profits, 
in  consequence,  are  gone;  ver3^  possibl3'  3011  find  30ur  bal- 
ance on  the  wrong  side  altogether,  and  not  01113-  that,  but 
3"ovi  are  bound  in  the  future  b3^3-our  contract,  which,  under 
the  new  circumstances,  may  be  losing,  and  quite  possibl3% 
heav3'  losing",  concern  to  3'Ou.  And  remember,  gentlemen, 
another  thing,  that  3^ou  in  Scotland  are  speciall3^  affected, 
more  than  an3'  other  class  of  farmers,  b3^  this  state  of  things, 
because  I  know  it  used  to  be  3'our  practice,  and  I  believe  it  is 
so  still,  to  take  3^our  farms  on  leases  which  are  binding  for 
a  term  of  years,  w^hether  the  conditions  of  the  lease  turn  out 
well  for  3  on  or  ill.  I  submit  then,  gentlemen,  and  I  hoj^e  3  on 
will  agree  with  me,  that  so  far  I  have  been  able  to  make  good 
the  first  proposition  which  I  laid  down  this  afternoon,  natne- 
I3',  that  the  main  cause  of  depression  is  the  fall  in  prices; 
that  the  fall  has  been  hitherto  progressive,  and  as  long  as  it 
continues  we  cannot  expect  3113^  real  and  substantial  im- 
provement in  the  future.     [Applause.] 

CAUSES   OF   THE   FALL   IN   PRICES. 

"And  now  I  come  to  the  second  and  much  more  disput- 
able qviestion,  namel3':  What  is  it  that  has  brought  about 
this  terrible  and  unprecedented  fall?  I  have  shown  3'ou 
alread3r  that,  according-  to  the  index  nvxmbers,  it  amounts  to 
40  per  cent,  as  the  average  fall  which  has  occurred  in  the 
price  of  a  great  number  of  commodities.  Well,  what  is  the 
cause  of  it?  The  answer  which  springs  at  once  to  the  lips 
of  nine  farmers  out  of  ever3'  ten,  certainl3'  in  England,  is  this: 
'Foreign  competition,'  and  that  the  remed3-  is  protection. 
Well,  I  used  to  think  so,  too,  but  I  cannot  sa3^  with  truth  that 
that  is  m3'  opinion  now  [aijjjlause]  and  I  sa3^  so  for  these 
reasons:  There  are  man3-  countries  at  this  moment  which 
impose  extremel3^  heav3^  duties  on  all  imported  agricultural 
produce.  Half  the  countries  on  the  continent,  not  to  speak 
of  the  United  States,  are  protectionists  to-da3%  and  3-et  the3' 
complain  of  agricultural  depression;  and  the3'  are  suffering 


224  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

from  it  quite  as  much,  and  in  some  cases,  I  believe,  even 
more  than  we  ourselves.  [Hear,  hear!  and  applause.]  Again 
yovx  must  remember  that  until  the  great  monetary  changes 
began  to  be  felt — probabl}^  in  1875  or  1876,  for  they  did  not 
begin  to  take  effect  till  a  3'ear  or  two  after  thej^  were  made — 
agriculture  had  enjoyed  the  greatest  and  the  most  unbroken 
period  of  prosperity  for  five  and  twentj' 3"ears  that  she  had 
ever  known.  Many  farmers  have  told  me  that  1874  was  the 
last  real  good  year  thej'  ever  had,  and  all  that  time,  remem- 
ber, for  twenty-five  years  previous  to  1874,  it  was  under  free 
trade  that  we  were  living.  And  when  I  see  and  when  I  know 
that  the  agricultural  depression  is  universal,  I  believe  in 
every  gold-ixsing  country  at  the  present  time,  whether  they 
be  free  trade  or  protectionist  alike,  that  the  farmers  in 
America,  from  where  the  chief  part  of  our  imports  come,  the 
wheat  growers  in  particular  are  being  daily  ruined  and  be- 
coming bankrupt  faster  even  than  we  are  in  the  worst  parts 
of  England,  I  am  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  free  trade 
alone  is  not  sufficient  to  account  for  it,  and  that  there  is  some 
other,  some  deeper  and  some  common  cause  which  lies  at 
the  bottom  of  it  all.     [Applause.] 

"Well,  then,  others  tell  you  that  there  is  no  mystery 
about  the  fall  at  all;  that  the  thing  is  very  simple;  that  vast 
areas  of  fertile  and  virgin  soil  are  cultivated  now  in  all  parts 
of  the  world  which  formerl}^  grew  nothing-;  that  there  are 
more  railroads,  cheaper  freights  and  greater  facilities  of 
transport  ever3'where,  and  that  all  that  we  are  svxfferingfrom 
may  be  summed  up  in  a  word,  viz:  'overproduction.'  Now, 
I  am  never  quite  sure  what  is  meant  when  people  talk  of 
overproduction.  The}-  alwa3'S  seem  to  forget  ihai pari  passu 
with  the  increase  of  commodities  there  has  been  an  enor- 
mous increase  also  in  the  population  and  in  the  needs  and 
reciuirements  of  the  world.  If  the}'  mean  by  overproduction 
that  the  ratio  of  the  increase  of  commodities  has  been  out  of 
all  proportion  to  the  increased  requirements  of  the  world, 
whj^  then,  I  do  not  believe  them.  And  certainlj'  no  one  has 
ever  given  the  smallest  proof  of  that  verx^  common  but  that 
ver3'  loose  and  ver}'  vague  assertion.  Have  3'ou  ever  con- 
sidered what  the  increase  of  the  population  of  the  world  is 
supposed  to  be  every  twenty  years?  I  saw  an  estimate  upon 
this  point  the  other  da3\  According  to  that  estimate,  the 
increase  in  the  population  of  the  world  ever3'  twent3'  3"ears 
amounts  to  no  less  than  200,000,000  of  people,  and  rattier  more. 
Now,  just  consider  what  that  means.  Wh3%  the  whole  popu- 
lation of  England  is  only  about  30,000,000,  and,  therefore,  it  is 
much  the  same  as  if  some  six  or  seven  new  Englands  had 
been  added  to  the  world  in  the  last  twent3'  3'ears.  And,  if 
the3'  had  been,  3'ou  can  fanc3  for  3'ourselves  what  sort  of  in- 
crease in  commodities  would  be  wanted  to  suppl3'  them. 
This  question,  gentlemen,  of  overproduction,  was  full3^ 
argued  and  threshed  out  on  the  Gold  and  Silver  Commission 


ADDENDA.  225 

five  or  six  years  ago;  and  if  jou  think  that  any  further  arg-u- 
nient  is  needed  I  must  refer  you  to  the  third  part  of  their  re- 
port on  this  point,  where  in  less  than  half  a  dozen  paragraphs 
3'ou  will  find  the  subject  dealt  with  in  a  wa}'  which  has  cer- 
tainly not  been  answered  until  now.  [Hear,  hear  !]  But,  in 
connection  with  this  subject,  there  is  one  table  of  wheat  sta- 
tistics which  was  sent  to  me  to  which  I  must  call  j^our  atten- 
tion. It  is  a  table  of  the  total  yield  of  the  world's  wheat 
crop  for  1891,  1892  and  1893,  with  the  i:)rices  for  eachj-ear,  and 
it  gives  B04,0()0,CKX)  quarters  for  1891,  300,000,000  for  1892,  and 
288,000,000  for  1893,  showing  a  stead}'  decrease  in  production. 
The  prices,  on  the  other  hand,  are  Us  for  1891, 29s  for  1892,  and 
2.5s  for  1893,  showing  an  enormous  fall  in  price.  So  here  5*011 
have  a  fall  in  price  of  40  per  cent,  in  wheat,  in  spite  of  a  de- 
crease in  production  and  in  spite  of  a  large  increase  in  pop- 
ulation and  in  demand.  [Applause.]  Now,  gentlemen,  I  say 
that  in  the  face  of  figures  such  as  these,  and  I  have  everj- 
reason  to  believe  that  they  are  fullj'^  as  trustworth}^  as  any 
of  the  statistics  on  which  we  are  accustomed  to  rely,  it  is  idle 
to  talk  of  the  fall  in  prices  being  due  to  nothing  but  over- 
production. No,  sir,  the  more  3'ou  sift,  and  the  more  closely 
5^ou  examine  into  this  question,  3-ou  will  find  that  there  is 
only  one  thing  which  is  able  to  sufficientlj^  account  for  the 
enormous  and  unjjrecedented  chang-e  which  has  occurred  in 
prices  during  the  last  twenty  years;  and  that  is  the  change 
which  has  occurred,  not  in  production  or  in  commodities, 
but  in  the  value  of  monej'^  itself  [hear,  hear!]  and  which  I 
believe  to  be  entirely  due  to  the  great  monetary  revolution 
which  occurred  some  fifteen  or  twenty  years  ago  upon  the 
continent  of  Kurope,  and  to  the  abandonment  of  the  bime- 
tallic S3'stem  b}*  which  it  was  accompanied  at  that  time. 
[Applause.] 

THE   MONETARY  CHANGES. 

"And  now  I  must  explain  as  briefly  as  I  can  what  those 
monetary  changes  were;  what  the  bimetallic  S3'stem  was,  and 
what  the  effects  of  its  abandonment  have  been  on  5'ourselves 
and  on  j^our  industr}'  in  particular,  as  well  as  on  the  world 
at  large.  Now,  some  people  are  under  the  impression,  I  be- 
lieve, that  bimetallism  is  something  new.  It  is  nothing  of 
the  kind;  it  is  as  old  as  the  history  of  the  world.  Gold  and 
silver  formed  the  joint  money  of  the  world  since  the  first 
ages  of  man.  That  is  why  the}'  are  called  the  precious 
metals,  and  bimetallism  itself  only  ceased  tAventj' years  ago. 
Let  me  explain  as  shortly  as  I  can  what  bimetallism  was. 
At  present,  as  3*011  know,  the  law  provides  that  if  30U  or  I  or 
an3'  one  takes  g'old  to  the  English  mint  the3'  are  bound  to 
receive  it  in  an3'  quantit3'  and  to  I'eturn  it  to  3'ou  coined  at 
the  rate  or  price  of  £3  17s  and  a  fraction  per  ounce.  It  then 
becoines  legal  tender  mone3*;  that  is  to  sa3',  mone3*  with 
which  3'ou  can  legally  discharge   3-our  debts.      Well,  if  the 


226  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

mint  was  also  bound  by  law  to  take  silver  in  precisely  the 
same  way  and  return  it  to  you  coined  at  a  fixed  rate  or  price, 
say  2s  6d,  or  3s,  or  any  other  price  that  might  be  fixed  per 
ounce,  and  if  it  became  likewise  legal  tender  monej' in  which 
you  could  pa3^  debts,  that  would  be  bimetallism.  But  that 
is  exactlj^  what  the  law  was  in  France  and  in  half  a  dozen 
other  countries  on  the  continent,  as  well  as  in  the  United 
States  of  America,  prior  to  1873;  the  rate  at  which  silver  was 
coined  was  fixed  at  that  time  at  about  3s  an  ounce,  which 
made  the  ratio  between  the  metals  about  lo^o  to  1,  and  this 
S3'Stem  which  I  have  described  to  5^011  was  onlj^  abandoned 
at  the  date  I  have  named.  And  whatever  else  an}-  one  ma)^ 
say  or  think  upon  this  subject,  it  certainl}'  is  a  striking  and 
remarkable  coincidence  that  ever  since  the  change  began  to 
take  effect  we  have  been  passing  through  a  period  of  pro- 
longed and  unexampled  depression  in  agriculture  and  every 
other  industrj',  both  in  this  and  ever}^  other  gold-using 
countr}' in  the  world  that  you  can  mention.  [Applause.]  Now, 
the  effects  of  that  law  were  as  follows:  It  gave  to  silver  in 
the  first  place,  so  far  as  the  law  was  concerned,  a  position  of 
equality  with  gold.  Now,  just  consider  what  that  means. 
The  law  created  a  universal  and  unlimited  demand  for  sil- 
ver, exactly  as  it  now  creates  a  similar  demand  for  gold.  All 
the  gold  that  can  be  found  in  the  world  possesses  a  value 
which  is  conferred  upon  it  b}^  the  law,  as,  if  I  may  so  de- 
scribe it,  'potential  money.'  And  that  was  also  the  position 
of  silver  prior  to  1873.  It  possessed  a  value  conferred  upon 
it  by  the  law  and  all  the  silver  that  could  be  found  was 
equally  'potential  monej','  exactl}^  like  the  gold. 

"Another  effect  was  this,  that  the  relative  value  of  gold 
and  silver  never  varied,  but  remained  practically  steady  for 
a  vast  number  of  years  prior  to  1873;  for  nobody  possessing 
silver  would  ever  part  with  it  for  a  lower  price  than  he  coixld 
get  at  any  moment  from  any  of  the  mints  of  those  countries 
that  T  have  named.  Thirdl3%  although  the  bimetallic  law 
itself  was  confined  to  the  countries  I  referred  to,  the  effects 
of  it  were  felt  and  were  universal  in  all  the  countries  of  the 
world  in  keeping  the  relative  values  of  gold  and  silver 
steady.  For  instance,  you  hear  a  great  deal  nowadays  about 
the  rupee  in  India,  and  how  greatly  it  has  fallen;  but  up  to 
1873  it  was  always  worth  just  about  2s,  without  any  change 
whatever.  You  never  heard  of  any  difficulties  then  about 
your  Indian  rjijDee,  and  if  there  was  any  variation  at  all  it 
was  onl3^  fractional.  But  since  1873  the  rupee  has  fallen  so 
enormousl3^  that  it  has  been  the  source  of  endless  trouble 
and  difficulty  to  our  Indian  finance,  and  at  the  present  mo- 
ment it  has  fallen  until  it  is  worth  only  about  Is  Id;  and 
more  than  that,  I  can  tell  you,  gentlemen,  that  Indian  finance 
was  never  in  so  desperate  a  mess  as  it  is  in  at  present.  [Ap- 
plause.] And  3'ou  will  hear  a  good  deal  more  of  that,  unless 
I  am   much   mistaken,  before  the  present  session   is   over. 


ADDENDA.  •  227 

And,  fourthly,  the  regular  addition  of  all  this  silver,  as  well 
as  gold,  to  the  volume  of  legal  tender  money  in  the  world 
steadily  increased  it,  and  had  the  same  effect  as  if  5'ou  added 
double  the  quantity  of  g-old.  It  was  just  sufficient  to  enable 
the  increased  volutue  of  mone}'  to  keep  pace  in  proportion 
with  the  increase  of  commodities  in  the  world,  and  therefore 
to  keep  prices  from  altering  very  much  either  one  waj^  or 
the  other.  [Applause.]  But  in  1873  all  this  was  changed. 
Owing  to  reasons  into  which  I  need  not  enter  now — for  the}^ 
are  all  on  record,  and  I  want  to  cixrtail  my  statement  as  much 
as  possible — the  mints  of  all  these  countries  were  closed  to 
the  free  coinage  of  silver  in  either  1873  or  the  beginning'  of 
1874.  Silver  lost  the  position  which  up  till  then  it  had  occu- 
pied in  conjunction  with  gold;  it  was  deprived  of  the  right 
of  free  coinage,  and  bimetallism  from  that  moment  ceased 
to  exist.  And  what  I  have  next  to  explain  to  3'ou  is  the  effect 
and  the  results  they  have  prodvxced.  Now,  the  chief  results 
were  two;  and  the  first  of  them  was  this:  The  dislocation  of 
silver  g-reatlj' increased  the  demand  for  gold,  and  it  jaut  a 
heav}'  strain  upon  the  g'old  stocks  of  the  world.  There  was 
no  corresponding  increase  in  the  supply,  and  the  natural 
and  inevitable  consequence  was  to  increase  the  value  of  that 
metal.  In  other  words,  it  caixsed  the  appreciation  of  gold. 
But  the  appreciation  of  gold  is  onlj^  another  word  for  a  fall 
in  prices,  and  as  j'ou  know  to  jour  cost,  that  is  exactl}'  what 
has  occurred,  and  that  has  been  the  first  effect  of  the  great 
monetar}'  changes  upon  you.  But  there  is  also  a  second  re- 
sult of  equal  or,  perhaps,  to  jou  of  even  more  importance. 
Silver  having-  been  deprived  of  the  legal  position  which,  in 
common  with  gold,  it  had  held  till  then,  and  the  link  be- 
tween the  metals  being-  gone,  silver  became  subject  at  once 
to  all  the  influences  which  affect  otlier  commodities,  and 
both  silver  and  commodities,  measured  in  g;old,  fell  in  price 
together.  This  created  at  once  a  divergence  in  the  old  rela- 
tive value  of  the  metals,  and  that  divergence  has  steadil}' 
widened  until  the  ratio  between  gold  and  silver  to-day  is 
something  like  30  to  1,  instead  of  lo^o  to  1,  which  it  used  to 
be  before. 

"Now,  it  is  this  divergence  which  explains  the  fact — and 
I  told  you  I  would  refer  to  this  again — that  certain  countries 
are  able  to  send  A,vheat  to  England  at  a  profit,  even  at  the 
price  of  19s  or  20s  a  quarter.  [Applause.]  The}'  are  the 
countries  which  use  silver  as  their  standard,  like  India,  for 
instance,  with  the  rupee.  And  the  first  thing 3011  must  bear 
in  mind  is  this,  that,  althoug-h  the  rupee  has  fallen  so  much 
in  relation  to  gold,  in  relation  to  commodities  in  India  it  has 
not  fallen  at  all.  In  other  words,  the  same  number  of  rupees 
will  exchange  no  longer  for  the  same  amount  of  gold,  btit 
they  will  exchange  for  in  India — i.  e.,  thej^  will  purchase  as 
much — of  anj'  commodity  or  commodities  in  India  as  thej- 
ever  did  before.     [Applause.]      You  will  see  the  effect  of  this 


228  •  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

upon  3'Oiir  wheat  in  Great  Britain  in  a  moment.  When  the 
price  of  wheat  was  £2  a  quarter  and  the  rupee  was  worth  2s, 
the  Indian  grower  of  wheat  got  20  rupees  for  his  quarter,  be- 
cause 20  rupees  at  that  time  exchang-ed  for  40s.  Now,  the 
price  of  wheat  has  dropped  to  £1  a  quarter,  but  the  Indian 
grower  still  gets  20  rupees,  because  the  rupee  has  also  fallen 
to  Is,  and  at  that  rate  £1  in  g-old  will  exchang-e  for  as  much 
as  £2  did  before.  |Hear,  hear!]  The  same  thing  happens  in 
the  case  ef  every  other  article  which  we  produce  in  England 
which  is  the  subject  of  competition  with  silver-using-  coun- 
tries. It  is  the  exchange,  as  it  is  called,  which  enables  the 
silver-using  countries  to  make  the  present  prices,  and  if  sil- 
ver continues  to  fall  further,  I  say  to  3^011  to-night,  as  I  said 
to  the  conference  in  St.  James's  Hall,  I  see  no  reason  in  the 
world  why  the  price  of  wheat  should  not  continue  to  fall  in- 
definitely in  the  future.  [Hear,  hear!]  You  will  perceive, 
then,  that,  according  to  1113^  views,  3"ou  are  suffering  from 
two  causes,  both  of  which  I  trace  to  the  great  monetar3' 
changes  of  twent3"  3'ears  ago,  and  which  are  becoming  more 
and  more  injurious  ever3'  day.  The  appreciation  of  gold  is 
the  first  cause;  the  wide  divergence  which  has  taken  place 
in  the  relative  value  of  the  metals  is  the  second  cause.  The 
former,  as  I  have  alread3'  stated,  is  another  word  for  a  gen- 
eral fall  in  prices.  The  seccuid  means  an  additional  and 
further  fall  in  the  case  of  those  particular  articles  which  are 
the  subject  of  competition  with  silver-using  countries.  [Ap- 
plause.] Now,  I  do  not  know  how  far  3011  have  been  able  to 
follow  me  in  this,  or  if  I  have  convinced  30U,  but  at  least  I 
think  3'ou  will  agree  that  I  have  said  enough  to  show  that 
this  is  a  serious  question  which  deserves  3'our  most  earnest 
and  thoughtful  consideration.     [Applause.] 

THE   QUESTION  OF  RENTS. 

"And  now,  gentlemen,  I  come  to  the  final  proposition — 
namel3^,  the  remed3^  which  we  propose — theremed3^  for  agri- 
cultural depression.  I  knowquite  well  that  in  some  parts  of 
Great  Britain  there  are  those  who  think  that  relief  canonl3^  be 
given,  and  must  be  given,  by  a  further  reduction  of  rents, 
and  in  individual  cases,  and  where  the  land  is  good,  I  am 
not  prepared  to  sa3"  that  that  would  not  give  the  relief 
or  part  of  the  relief  that  is  required.  But  there  are  two  things 
3'ou  must  bear  in  mind  in  connection  with  that  question  so 
far  as  g^eneral  agricultural  depression  is  concerned  all  over 
the  country.  In  the  first  place,  enormous  reductions  of  rents 
in  some  parts  of  Great  Britain  have  alread3'  been  made.  On 
the  agricultural  commission  we  hear  of  reductions  var3-ing' 
from  20  to  40,  and  50,  and  even  80  per  cent,  and  of  other 
cases  where  there  is  no  rent  at  all,  and  where  the  land  has 
gone  absolute^'  out  of  cultivation  altogether.  [Hear,  hear!] 
The  second  thing  I  want  3'OU  to  bear  in  mind  is  that  these 
reductions  in  rent  might  possibl3^  be  a  general  remedy  to 


ADDENDA.  229 

some  extent  if  all  the  land  throno-hout  Great  Britain  was 
land  of  the  same  qualit}-.  But  that  is  not  the  case.  Land  in 
Great  Britain,  generally  speaking-,  may  be  roughl}^  divided 
into  three  classes.  There  is  the  good  land  ;  there  is  the 
moderate  land  ;  there  is  the  bad  land.  Well  the  bad  land 
has  ceased  to  pa}'  rent  altogether  |applause|,  and  much  of  it 
now  has  gone  out  of  cultivation.  The  moderate  land,  I  am 
sorry. to  sa}^,  in  some  cases  is  beginning-to  go  at  present,  and 
we  have  arrived  at  such  a  pitch  that  any  further  reduction 
of  rents  at  the  present  moment  means  merelj^this,  that  more 
and  more  land,  good  land,  will  go  steadil}' out  of  cultivation. 
It  is  impossible  that  that,  therefore,  can  be  described  as  a 
general  or  effective  remedy  for  g-eneral  agricultural  depres- 
sion. 

THE  REMEDY. 

''No,  gentlemen  ;  the  real  reinedj^,  in  my  opinion,  is 
simpl}^  to  revert  to  the  S5'stem  which  prevailed  prior  to  1873. 
For  this  purpose  an  international  arrangement  would  be 
necessar}',  and  some  people  will  tell  you  that  it  is  hopeless 
to  get  the  nations  to  agree,  and  the}-  point  to  the  abortive 
conference  held  last  year  at  Brussels  in  support  of  that 
contention.  Well,  that  is  not  my  opinion.  I  have  donew^hat, 
I  dare  say,  very  few  people  have  done.  I  have  carefully 
read  the  whole  of  the  proceedings  at  that  conference,  and 
notliing  is  more  clear  to  me  than  this,  that  it  was  nothing- 
but  the  action  of  the  English  delegates  [hear,  hear!  and 
applause],  or  some  of  them,  which  broke  up  the  conference 
at  Brussels.  [Hear,  hear!]  On  this  point  I  could  give  you 
some  striking-  testimony  both  from  the  German  Chancellor 
and  the  President  of  tlie  I'uited  States,  but  I  am  afraid  of 
being  too  long.  Only  this  I  may  mention,  that  in  Germany, 
which  is  said  by  some  people  to  be  the  chief  obstacle, 
it  is  not  two  months  ago  since  they  have  been  obliged  to 
appoint  a  royal  cominission  on  this  very  subject  of  their 
own  to  see  what  can  be  done  to  repair  the  mischief  that  is 
following  these  changes.  You  may  take  it  from  me  as 
certain  that  England  is  the  great  impediment  at  present  to 
this  great  reform,  and  it  is  in  England  that  we  will  have  to 
overcome  the  opposition. 

THE  OBJECTIONS  TO   BIJ>|ETALLISM. 

"Now,  what  are  the  usual  objections  that  are  urged  to 
our  views?  I  have  been  asked  by  some  correspondents  to 
reply  to  one  or  two  of  them,  and  1  will  do  so.  The  first,  the 
old  stock  argument,  is  this  :  You  can  not  maintain  a  fixed 
ratio  between  gold  and  silver  any  more  than  yoxx  can 
between  any  two  other  commodities.  You  cannot  interfere 
with  the  laws  of  supply  and  demand.  The  thing-  is  imprac- 
ticable ;  it  is,  in  fact,  a  bimetallic  dream.  Now,  our  oppo- 
nents appear  to  be  still  in  blissful  ignorance  of  what  is, 
perhaiJS,  the  most  elementary  fact  of  our  contention,  viz.: 


230  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

that  the  bimetallic  theory  affords,  perhaps,  the  most  perfect 
aud  most  striking-  instance  of  the  operation  of  those  laws  in 
aspeciallj'  instructive  case,  and  I  believe  I  am  right  in  sa}^- 
ing  that  that  is  the  opinion  of  every  teacher  of  political 
economj'  in  England  at  the  present  time.  [Applause.]  Mind 
you.  this  is  verj'  ancient  history,  but  so  man}'  of  the  critics 
have  so  little  learned  their  lesson  that  I  will  repeat  one 
argument  on  the  subject,  and  I  think  it  will  suffice.  What 
we  say  is  this,  that  the  law  can  exact  that  either  or  both  of 
the  metals  shall  be  legal  tender  for  debt.  That  we  know, 
because  it  has  been  done  effectuall}'  alreadj'.  And  thereb}^ 
the  law  creates  what  is  and  what  has  been  the  chief  demand 
for  the  precious  metals— namel}',  for  the  purposes  of  monej'. 
The  law  can  also  enact  that  they  shall  be  legal  tender  at  a 
given  ratio  between  the  two,  for  this  aJso  has  been  done,  and 
done  effectivel)'  in  the  past.  Now  comes  the  question  :  How 
is  the  ratio  maintained?  The  answer  to  this  question  is 
that  debtors  will  alwaj's  trj^  to  pay  their  debts  in  the  cheap- 
est way  the\'  can,  that  is  to  say,  in  whichever  metal  is  the 
cheapest.  What  do  those  debts  amount  to?  The  indebt- 
edness of  the  world  is  estimated  at  something  between 
twenty  and  thirty  thousand  millions  sterling.  Conse- 
quently, if  either  metal  falls,  for  an}"  reason,  below  the  legal 
ratio,  there  will  be  an  immediate  increase  in  the  demand 
upon  it  for  the  purpose  of  the  paj'inent  of  debts.  The 
increased  demand  produces  its  natural  effect.  The  metal 
which  has  shown  the  smallest  tendencj'  to  fall  returns  to 
the  normal,  or  rather,  I  should  say,  the  legal  level.  For- 
merl}- it  was  gold — at  the  time  of  the  great  gold  discoveries 
fort}'  years  ago.  More  recentl}'  it  has  been  silver,  the  pro- 
duction of  which  of  late  has  much  increased,  although 
in  nothing  like  the  same  proportion  as  the  production  of 
gold  increased  in  former  da3's.  And  in  this  wa}-  an  auto- 
matic action  is  set  up,  which  not  onlj'  keeps  the  relative 
value  of  the  metals  stead}-,  but  makes  it  impossible,  as  we 
contend,  for  them  to  var}',  except  within  the  smallest  limits. 
If  a  great  increase  in  either  metal  should  occur,  and  begin 
to  have  the  least  effect,  the  parit}"  is  immediately  restored  bj^ 
the  operation  of  the  natural  law.  And  this  explains  at  once 
the  practical  stability  of  the  ratio  during  the  long  periods 
antecedent  to  1873,  when  the  variation  in  the  production  of 
the  metals  was  infinitely  greater  than  it  has  been  ever  since 
then.  I  feel  that  I  ought  to  apologize  for  repeating  this 
fundamental  argunjent  in  repljing  to  the  antiquated  objec- 
tions with  which  we  are  assailed,  but  if  I  had  not  done  so 
I  was  afraid  that  I  should  be  attacked,  like  your  distin- 
guished countryman,  Mr.  Arthur  Balfour  [applause],  in  the 
city  not  very  long  ago,  for  not  answering  the  objections 
which  were  advanced  against  bimetallism.  The  next  objec- 
tion that  I  hear  is  this.  Even  if  yovt  could  maintain  a  ratio 
3'ou  never  could  agree  as  to  what  the  ratio  should  be.     My 


ADDENDA.  231 

answer,  g-entlemen,  is  this:  Binietallists  would  accept  any 
ratio  rather  than  go  on  as  we  are  doino-  at  the  isresent  time. 
[Hear,  hear!]  But  what  the  final  decision  as  to  a  ratio  should 
be  is,  obviously,  a  matter  of  agreement  among  the  different 
people  who  are  concerned.  M}^  own  opinion  upon  that 
point  is,  and  alwaj-s  has  been  this,  it  is  not  so  important  as 
people  think,  and  for  this  reason  :  So  sensitive  is  silver 
that  the  moment  a  bimetallic  settlement  was  reallj^  on  the 
tapis  the  market  price  of  silver  would  conform  to  any  ratio 
that  was  fixed  long-  before  it  was  enacted  bj^  any  positive 
leg-islation.     [Applause.] 

THE   QUESTION  OF  vSILVER  PRODUCTION. 

"But  then  I  hear  it  is  said  that  even  if  jou  could  agree 
upon  the  ratio,  the  enormous  quantities  of  silver  that  can  be 
produced  even  at  the  present  price,  must  inevitabl}-  break  it. 
Well,  to  begin  with,  I  have  m}-  doubts  as  to  this  illimitable 
production.  I  am  aware  of  no  facts  and  no  information  to 
confirm  the  statement.  Certainly  there  are  none  to  be  found 
in  the  whole  of  the  evidence  before  the  conference  at  Brus- 
sels. But  the  answer  to  that  argument  is  this:  'What  is  of 
importance  is  not  the  annual  output  of  the  metals,  but  the 
total  amount  of  the  mass  of  each  of  them  which  is  alread}^ 
in  existence.  [Hear,  hear!|  This  is  an  idea  I  want  3'ou  to 
carrj'  a^vay  in  jour  minds.  The  annual  output  now  is,  what 
shall  I  saj'?  probabl3'  something-  about  30,000,000  sterling  a 
year  of  each.  Perhaps  it  is  even  more  than  that  of  silver,  but 
what  is  the  existing-  mass  ?  I  turn  to  the  report  of  the  Gold 
and  Silver  Commission.  There  I  find  that  the  estimate  of 
the  mass  of  g-old  in  existence  in  the  world  five  3'ears  ago  is 
1,5,50,000,000  or  in  round  numbers  say  1,600,000,000  sterling-. 
Silver,  on  the  other  hand,  is  estimated  at  a  little  under  2,000,- 
000,0(X)  sterling.  Now,  supposing-  that  the  present  annual 
production  of  silver  was  doubled,  what  does  it  matter 
whether  you  add  30,000,000  a  year  or  ()(),OfX),000  a  year  to  the 
existing  mass  r  You  have  2,(M),000,000  of  silver,  instead  of 
2,0.30,000,000.  as  the  mass  of  silver  in  the  world.  Why,  the 
difference  is  fractional — barel^'li^  per  cent.  That  is  also  the 
repl3^  to  the  qixestion  I  have  been  asked  to  answer  bj^  a  gen- 
tleman well  known  to  you  (Mr.  Lindsaj),  who  was  the  presi- 
dent of  j'our  chamber.  >Ir.  Lindsaj'  asked  me  this  question: 
'If  the  effect  of  monetizing-  silver  be  to  enhance  the  value 
of  that  metal,  will  this  not  lead  to  a  still  further  increase  in 
its  production,  and  conseqxient  augmentation  of  the  diffi- 
cult}'? The  Broken  Hill  Proprietar}-  Compau}'  produces 
about  20  per  cent,  of  the  total  supply-  in  the  world,  and  it  is 
paj-ing-  now,  even  at  the  present  price,  an  enormovis  divi- 
dend.' To  that  question  I  answer,  no,  I  do  not  think  it  will 
affect  it  in  the  least.  Twent}^  per  cent,  of  the  total  annual 
output  of  silver  is  onlj^  an  infinitesimal  addition  to  the  mass 
already  in  existence.      You  must  remember  that  the  metals 


232  THESE  HARD  TIMES. 

differ  from  almost  all  other  commodities  in  this  respect — 
that  they  do  not  perish,  and  they  are  not  annnally  con- 
sumed. A  crop  of  wheat,  for  instance,  or  the  oreatest  part  of 
it,  is  consumed  ever}'  year.  A  oreat  increase  or  decrease  in 
the  annual  crop  of  "wheat  makes  all  the  difference  in  the 
world.  But  the  mass  of  g"old  and  silver  is  the  accumulation 
of  centuries.  Some  of  the  gold  we  are  using-  now.  however 
often  it  has  been  recoined,  existed  probabl}'  in  the  dajs  of 
Solomon  or  the  Pharaohs  [laughter],  and  the  annual  addi- 
tions to  this  enormous  mass  are  comparatively  unimpor- 
tant. That  is  likewise  the  answer  to  another  very  common 
question,  namely,  that  our  present  difficulties  will  be  aug-- 
mented  bj'  the  increasing  output  of  gold  in  South  Africa. 
No  doubt  they  are  increasing^  everj'  3'ear.  I  hope  they  will 
continue  to  increase,  but  unless  the}^  do  so  in  proportions 
of  which  1  do  not  see  any  prospect,  the}'  will  be  absolutely 
insufficient  to  redress  the  mischief  which  is  going  on  at  pres- 
ent. Again,  I  hear  it  said  that  if  you  did  this  3-ou  would  be 
making- the  fortunes  of  the  owners  of  silver  mines  in  Mexico, 
in  America  and  in  other  places  of  the  world.  Well,  perhaps 
5'ou  would,  but  would  an}-  one  of  you  refuse  to  receive  gold 
for  an}- reason  such  as  that  ?  I  know  a  gentleman  now  in 
London  who  is  said  to  have  made  a  fortune  of  manj- millions 
within  the  last  few  5-ears  from  the  gold  mines  of  South 
Africa.     Well,  vou  welcome  all  that  he  can  send  j'ou. 

"Why  should  yoii  refuse  the  silver?  Do  we  starve  or 
freeze  ourselves  in  winter  in  order  to  prevent  the  owners  of 
coal  mines  from  becoming-  rich?  [Laughter.]  It  is  reall}' 
quite  the  weakest  and  silliest  of  all  arguments  I  know. 
[Laughter  and  applause.]  There  is  another,  I  admit,  which 
is  deserving-  of  much  more  serious  attention.  We  are  the 
greatest  creditor  nation  in  the  world.  Whj-  should  we  take 
payment  for  our  debts  in  what  is  the  least  valuable  metal? 
My  repl}'  is  this:  If  bimetallists  are  right,  there  can  be  no 
such  thing  as  a  cheaper  or  a  dearer  metal.  [Hear,  hear!] 
Their  relative  value  will  remain  stable  and  each  of  them 
will  perform  all  the  functions  of  the  other.  What  may  hap- 
pen, quite  possibl}-,  is  this.  There  may  be  some  increase  in 
prices,  and  as  we"  receive  payment  for  our  foreign  debt  in 
produce  from  other  countries  we  ma}-  get  something  less  of 
produce  than  we  got  before.  But  look  at  the  other  side  of 
the  picture  for  a  nioment.  Is  it  just,  is  it  wise,  for  the  credi- 
tor to  push  his  debtor  into  such  a  corner  as  we  are  doing 
now  by  monetarv  chang-es  which  have  enormously  increased 
the  burden  of  his  debt  ?  [Hear,  hear !]  I  do  not  care  whether 
it  is  an  individual,  or  whether  it  is  a  nation.  I  ask  them  both 
the  same  question. 

FOREIGN    INVESTMENTS. 
"What  is  the  position  of  many  of  our  investments  in 
foreign  countries  at  this  moment?     Take  American  railways. 


>-> 


ADDENDA.  233 

I  hope  in  Scotland  there  is  not  much  nionej'  invested  in 
American  raihvajs.  [Lavighter.]  What  about  the  shares  of 
the  Union  Pacific  railwaj-,  extending-  over  9,000  miles  r  Thej^ 
used  to  be  above  par;  to-daj-,  I  am  told,  thej-  are  $14.  And, 
inore  than  that,  I  hear  that  one-third  of  all  the  railways  in 
America  are  at  this  moment  in  the  hands  of  the  receiver. 
How  much  have  the  people  of  this  creditor  nation  invested 
in  American  railways,  I  should  like  to  know.  Do  they 
benefit  bj'  the  present  state  of  thing's  r  \Yell,  what  about 
American  mortgages  upon  land?  Are  investments  in  that 
quarter  particularlj*  flourishing-  just  now?  From  all  I  hear 
of  American  land  and  the  condition  of  the  American  farm- 
ers, particularly  in  the  West,  owing  to  the  fall  in  prices,  I 
should  not  be  ver}'  satisfied  about  any  investments  of  my 
own  in  American  mortgages  upon  land  if  I  had  an}-,  ^vhich, 
happil}-,  I  have  not.  [Laughter.]  Again,  look  at  the  position 
in  Australia.  You  know  what  has  happened  to  investors 
there.  I  doubt  if  thej'  perceive  just  now  the  advantage  to 
the  creditor  nation  of  constant!}'  appreciating  gold.  In  fact, 
creditors  at  this  moment  in  all  parts  of  the  world  are  in  the 
g-reatest  danger,  where  it  is  not  gone  already,  of  losing  their 
capital,  or  much  of  their  capital,  altogether;  and  why? 
Because  of  the  great  and  general  fall  in  prices  all  over  the 
world,  due  to  the  appreciation  of  o;"old,  \vhich  has  made  so 
mail}'  different  enterprises  unprohtable  and  some  of  them 
bankrupt  altogether  in  recent  years. 

THE  BANK   RESERVES. 

"There  is  one  other  cjuestion  onljMo  which  I  think  it 
necessary  or  desirable  to  refer,  and  that  is  the  argument  de- 
duced from  the  unusuall)' large  amount  of  gold  atpresentin 
the  Bank  of  England.  What  is  the  meaning,  I  am  asked,  of 
scarcity  or  'appreciation'  when,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  there  is 
a  plethora  of  gold  l3'ing-  idle  at  this  moment  in  London  ?  So 
there  may  be.  It  is  the  strongest  confirmation  of  mj^  view. 
[Hear,  hear  !J  And  if  I  am  asked  ho\v  the  conditions  can 
exist  together,  I  say  that  the  one  is  to  a  large  extent  the  con- 
sequence of  the  other.  [Hear,  hear  !]  People  do  not  invest 
their  nione}-  inindustrj-  or  enterprise  to-da}',  because  in  the 
face  of  constantlj-  falling-  prices  the  return  is  so  uncertain. 
Gold  itself  is  steadily  increasing  everj-  daj-  in  value,  and  it 
is  better  and  safer  to  sit  tight  and  hold  it,  unless  j^ou  can 
lend  it  upon  the  very  best  security.  [Applause.]  Very 
man)'  jears  ago  Lord  Bacon  Avrole  as  follows — and  it  may 
not  be  inappropriate  to  quote  it  at  an  agricultural  meeting 
like  the  present:  'Money,'  he  wrote,  'is  like  muck — of  no 
use  unless  it  be  spread.'  [Laughter  and  applause.]  Every 
farmer  in  Scotland,  I  am  sure,  will  understand  the  simile. 
If  you  leave  your  manure  gathered  in  a  heap,  it  is  useless 
and  barren,  and  fertilizes  nothing  until  it  is  spread  upon  the 
land.     But  with  wheat  at  19s  a  qvxarter,  you  do  not  see  3'our 


2M  THKSE  HARD  TIMES. 

\\ray  to  a  return  if  5'oix  g^o  to  g;reat  expense  in 
heavil}^  for  your  crop  ;  and  so  with  the  plethora  of  g'old  in 
London  l3'ing'  idle  in  the  coffers  of  the  rich.  It  is  barren  for 
g^ood  as  long  as  it  remains  there.  But  it  never  will  be  spread 
in  promoting-  and  fertilizing-  industry  and  enterprise  as 
long  as  we  remain  confronted  with  perpetually  falling 
prices,  and,  therefore,  an  absolutel}'  uncertain  future. 
(Applause. I  Now,  gentlemen,  I  must  bring  iny  observations 
to  a  close  as  quickly  as  I  can.  I  really  cannot  thank  you 
sufficientl}',  g'entlemen,  for  your  attention,  and  the  extraor- 
dinary patience  and  kindness  3011  have  shown  me  during 
what  must  necessarily^  have  been,  I  fear,  a  long  and  very 
tedious  statement  fno,  no!)  on  a  naturallj'  drj^  and  uninviting 
topic.  I  have  done  m^^  best  to  put  the  merits  of  the  question 
as  clearly  as  I  can  before  j^ou.  [Applause.]  What  are  its 
prospects  for  the  future?  I  regard  them,  gentlemen,  for 
my  own  part,  as  full  of  promise  and  as  full  of  hope.  It  is  no 
small  matter,  in  my  judgment,  that  you  have  begun  to  show 
interest  in  this  question  here  in  Scotland.  I  know,  and  I  am 
certain,  that  g-reat  progress  has  recently  been  made  in 
London. 

"We  had  a  most  important  international  congress  on 
this  subject  in  the  city  not  many  days  ago  and  a  much  less 
important  matter  in  the  house  of  cominons,  namel3\  a  count 
ovit  the  same  evening  on  this  question  [laughter]  and,  in 
order  to  allay  the  apprehensions  of  friends  abroad  and  to 
disappoint  our  foes  at  home,  I  wish  to  833-  one  single  word 
on  this  incident.  To  people  who  understand  the  house  of 
commons  it  is  of  absolute  insignificance.  A  second  place 
at  an  evening  sitting',  when  no  division  could  be  taken,  was 
not  a  fitting  opportunity  to  proceed  with  an  important 
motion.  To  any  one  acquainted  with  parliamentar3^  tactics 
it  was  an  occasion  which  invited  a  count  out.  It  was  against 
the  wishes  and  advice  of  many  good  friends  of  the  move- 
ment that  the  discussion  was  attempted,  and  it  ended  with 
a  result  which  was  inevitable  and  which  most  people  might 
foresee.  But,  from  all  I  hear  from  every  quarter  the  interest 
in  this  question  most  undoubtedl3^  is  steadily  and  widely 
spreading.  The  city  is  beginning-  to  listen  with  attention. 
Lancashire  and  her  artisans  have  long  been  supporters  ;  one 
distinguished  Scotsman,  the  present  leader  of  the  opposition 
[applause]  is  its  chief  and  most  stalwart  champion,  and  if 
I  look  toward  the  other  side  of  politics,  what  do  I  find  from 
another  Scotsman  —  Lord  Rosebery  —  the  present  prime 
minister  of  England?     [Applause.] 

"  I  was  looking  at  a  speech  of  his  only  yesterday  after- 
noon, and  this  is  what  I  find  he  said.  It  was  delivered  four 
or  five  j'ears  ago  to  a  great  audience  in  England.  You  have, 
he  told  them,  three  great  topics  as  to  which  3^011  will  have  to 
make  up  your  minds.  The  first,  he  said,  was  Ireland;  but 
the  second,  and  one  of  the  most  pressing-,  is  the  question  of 


ADDENDA.  235 

3'our  currency.  [Hear,  hear!)  What  the  prime  minister'.s 
present  views  may  be  I  do  not  know  [laug^hter]  and  I  do  not 
prevsume  to  say,  but  I  am  encouraoed  by  all  that  I  have  seen  of 
Scotland  and  heard  in  the  few  hours  I  have  been  in  Edinburgh 
to-daj',  I  cherish  the  hope  and  belief  that  it  may  be  reserved 
for  Scotsmen  by  their  attitude  to  turn  the  scale  upon  this 
vast  and  interesting-  question,  with  regard  to  which,  gentle- 
men, I  do  assure  you  that  in  ni}'  heart  and  in  mj-  conscience 
I  believe  that  it  is  of  superlative  importance,  not  onl}^  to  the 
great  industry-  which  jou  3'ourselves  especially  represent, 
but  to  all  the  workers  and  producers,  and  to  all  productive 
industrj',  not  only  to  your  well-beloved  Scotland,  biit 
throughout  the  whole  of  the  civilized  world."  [Loud  and 
prolonged  applause. [ 


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